Fighting Back the Muggle Way
by Harry Steel
Summary: ABANDONED. Restarted as Harry Steel: The Beginning. One misfiled document has the power to change lives, end dark lords, slap down a corrupt ministry, empower a global confederation, & make Harry Potter an independent powerful man.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is going to be a slow burn for the first dozen chapters. Then it's going to hit it's stride. This is going to be very much in the style of Investigator Harry Steel (Violent, cool, and fun Harry). It also uses the same universe with a few minor changes to fit the plot better. I have TheBlackHand724's permission to use his characters and if you have not read his story please do, he has some of the best post Hogwarts/ grown up Harry Potter on the site.

This story also has the flavor of Old Crow's work (Cool Grangers, Harry/Hermione fluffy goodness, smart Susan Bones/Stand up guy Neville, doing things the muggle way). I have a dozen chapters completed and ready to post. I will post one to two chapters a week, this story is going to be 30-40 chapters long, maybe longer, and like Investigator Harry Steel it feels a bit meandering at times, but fun. The first 10 chapters cover the first few weeks of the day to day life of Harry as he goes for book five kid to independent young man with power. Harry will have access to Superpower, but he won't use it too much like IHS. Harry is a bit Mary Sue, but just like the books it's mostly because he's very good at learning new physical skills/talents/spells when he has to.

This is my first real story, I have struggled with dyslexia my whole life and like The Black Hand I too have word mix up issues. Years of struggling through school has brought me to this level. I'm hoping that by writing this story I can improve my writing just like he did. So please, don't burn me. If you feel the need to write bad things in the comments just please don't. I'm worried enough as it is.

I hope you like the story.

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Alice Coleman had the thankless job of overnight file clerk in the Records and Notices office on the sixth floor of the Ministry of Magic. Her shift had just started when all hell broke loose in the building. She had just sat down with her romance novel and cup of tea when alarms started going off in the building. Not knowing what the alarm meant and hoping it wasn't a fire she locked up her department and hurried to the lobby only to run into a huge crowd in the wrecked atrium. She saw Aurors, and professor Dumbledore, and even the minister himself standing there in his pajamas. She only caught snippets of the conversation but she got the gist of it. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked the building and a group of school children had fought them off.

Everyone was in shock. How could this be? But it had to be real. Just like the stories that poor boy Harry Potter had been telling all along. How dreadful. The Aurors were taking it very serious now. Alice was kept in a waiting room off the atrium for two hours while the Aurors did a full sweep of the building before she was allowed to go back to her department. Not that she minded the wait. Better to be safe than sorry.

When she got back to her department she found three birth notices and five death certificates. She took the five death certificates and stuck them in the heavy black dragon leather folder set to go to Gringotts in the morning before she filed out the paperwork for the birth certificates and filed them in their correct cabinets. Had she been paying attention she would have noticed that one death certificate had a 'sealed records' tag on it and by law it should have be filed in the sealed records box that went to the head of the Wizengamot. But she didn't notice. She stuck all five certificates into the folder and went about her business. Little did she know that her clerical error would lead to hundreds of deaths, the downfall of the British magical world, and the rise of a new superpower.

Eight hours later, a low ranking Auror cadet took the leather document holder to the bank at the start of the business day. That folder landed on the desk of a goblin by the name of Bloodletter, head of the Wills and Trusts department. His day had, oddly enough, been going poorly as well. His shower didn't seem to get hot enough, his eggs and wild mushroom were overcooked and tasted like a kitchen sponge covered in salt, and to top it all off he had spilled coffee on his shirt burning a good portion of his chest. But no matter how bad his day was going so far it was about to get worse. He filed the first two death notices and pulled the two wills out of the file vault but when he got to Sirius Orion Black the will was missing.

What followed his discovery was a four hour search of the entire records vault. Six goblins and ten human file clerks looked in every file in every cabinet until the will was located. It was just one piece of parchment that was stuck in a file for George Witillmore. On top of the miss filing the will wasn't co-witnessed by two goblins nor did it have the signature of the goblin who filed it so he couldn't find the dead goblin walking that made the filing error. Bloodletter took the will to the head of will creation and ranted for the next ten minutes about the mishandling of an official document. An investigation into how the document got misplaced was set up by the security branch of the bank and Bloodletter went back to his office. He sent out the owls with letters to the beneficiaries of each will including a letter to Harry Potter letting him know that he was the sole beneficiary of a second very large estate and that he needed to stop by the bank at his earliest convenience to go over the details.

Bloodletter had a late and quick lunch so he could be back at his desk to fill out and file any wills that were drawn up earlier in the day. By the time he got back a half hour later there was a reply letter on his desk for the Black will. It was a short and quick note that was to the point. All the money and properties were to be added to the Potter family vaults. It was signed Albus Dumbledore, guardian of Harry Potter.

Bloodletter would never know if it was the fact that the will was miss filed, the fact that the will wasn't filled out right, or the quick reply but he knew something was wrong. After decades of pushing paper he knew in his gut that this was wrong. He looked at the death certificate again and saw the sealed records stamp on the top. Then he looked at the date on the death certificate and saw it was yesterday. That shouldn't be. Sealed records took at least ten years or more before they were handed over to the bank.

Looking at the red letters he missed the first time, he realized this was the second clerical error linked to this will, and that really sounded alarm bells in his head. On top of all that there was the fact that Harry Potter shouldn't need a guardian. Harry Potter should have been the head of his house. An Ancient and Most Noble House at that. He was fifteen years old, he just took his OWLs. by the laws of the goblin nation and the wizengamot he should have been given full access to the full Potter accounts and his head of house ring.

Bloodletter took the will, the death certificate, and the reply letter right to Bonebreaker, the head of security. This was a breach of protocol. He should have went to a lower ranking goblin in the security division like he did earlier with the misfiled will, but this was too big for a random security goblin. The two goblins looked over the will and he explained his case to the more deadly looking goblin and soon they were taking all of their evidence to Ragnok, the head of the bank branch. It took another half hour to go over all the points of the case with the head goblin.

"So you're telling me that Lord Harry Potter, the head of, not to mention the last member of, the Ancient and Most Noble house of Potter has just inherited the Title of Lord Black, the head of the Ancient and Most Noble house of Black? And for some reason Lord Potter didn't get the letter informing him of this new development. And old manipulative Dumbledore is signing Lord Potter's legal letters and forms? You know what this is right? A fuck up that could cost this bank millions, if not hundreds of millions of galleons. We need to get to the bottom of this right now. If word got out that a goblin had anything to do with Lord Potter not receiving his Head of House ring then witches and wizards around the world, and not just this island, will pull their money out of the bank. As it is we are losing mages to muggle banks everyday in other parts of the world. We can not let this go. Bloodletter, I want you to work with Bonebreaker and get him anything he needs document wise. No piece of parchment in this building is off limits as far as this investigation goes. The words client confidentiality don't exist you hear me?" Ragnok asked looking more freaked out then either goblin had ever seen their boss and leader.

"Yes Sir. Bonebreaker will have the full might of my whole department behind him sir." Bloodletter said sincerely.

"Bonebreaker, I want your whole department working on this case. Aside from guard details around the building your department is dedicated to the task of righting this situation as fast as you can. I want daily reports. I want this solved by the end of the week at the latest. We need to have answers when we bring Lord Potter in. I also want you to send a human to keep an eye on Lord Potter when school gets out tomorrow. I don't like the way Dumbledore sent that reply so fast and I don't like the fact that the old man is involved with Lord Potter affairs after his majority." Ragnok said frowning at the thought of the old mage.

"Yes sir! I'll set it up as soon as I get back to my office sir. I will also have the Potter Head of House ring located sir." Bonebreaker said before he lead Bloodletter out of the office. The two goblins shared a look in the hallway.

"This is a bad situation we find ourselves in. I am so lucky I put this together and brought it to you when I did." Bloodletter said as they walked down the hall to get back to their offices.

"Bad? No, it's fucked up! If I find the goblin or goblins responsible for this I will personally see to it that they get drawn and quartered before they are fed to the dragons. They will die screaming. This could bring down the bank." Bonebreaker said before he walked into his office.

One week later a young Auror dressed in red robes, with pink hair and a worried look on her face walked into the bank. She walked up to a teller and fished out the letter from her pocket which she promptly dropped. She bent down to get it and whacked her head on the underside of the counter. "Fuck." She yelped as she stood up and tried to regain some of her lost dignity. For his part, the goblin teller looked at her with a semi-amused smirk.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Hi, I'm Nymphadora Tonks, I got this letter about ten minutes ago. I came right over as fast as I could." She said showing him the letter which was short and to the point. It stated that there was a problem with her account and she needed to get to the bank as fast as she could to resolve it.

"You need to see Bonebreaker. Down that hall it's the third door on your left." He said pointing to the hallway with the back offices.

"Thank you." She said rushing off. She found the door and knocked. The voice called her in and she saw a large burly looking goblin sitting behind a big desk full of documents.

"Ms. Tonk?" He asked.

"Yes. There's a problem with my account?" She asked.

"Not really, why don't you close the door and take a seat. I have some information that you need to see." Bonebreaker said.

"Am I in trouble? Should I call my mother? She's a law witch." She asked feeling fear. She saw the nameplate on his desk. This was the head of bank security.

"You are not in any trouble, in fact you stand to make a large bit of gold when we're done here today. If you can get a hold of Andromeda Tonks quickly then by all means do so. It's important that she hear this too. You can use my floo or phone if you have her number." Bonebreaker said trying to put the young auror at ease.

"I have a phone. I'll just call her and tell her to pop over." Tonks said pulling out her cell phone.

"Very good. Why don't you have a seat and I'll have tea brought up. I'll also call in my colleague Bloodletter. He can explain the paper trail better." Bonebreaker said waving her to a seat and calling for a tea tray.

A half hour later the two Tonks women found themselves sitting across the desk from two goblins sipping tea.

"I would like to start at the beginning. This is the Potter will. As you can see it clearly states that Harry potter should have gone to Sirius Black, his godfather, if he was unavailable then the young Potter scion should have gone to Alice Longbottom, his godmother. If she were unable to take the boy in, you can see your name is next on the list." Bloodletter said handing over a copy of the document.

"What?" Tonks asked looking confused. Her law witch mother had a different look on her face. It was equal parts shock and anger.

"My god." Andy said understanding where this conversation was going.

A half hour later when Bloodletter laid out all the information they had so far, Andy's reaction was much different. Gone was the shock, it was replaced by rage. She wanted to kill someone and she wanted them to die screaming. For the first time in a long time she felt like a Black again as she imagined ripping the old Headmaster apart with her bare hands. She knew from years of abuse at the hands of her father and mother all the ways to hurt the old man and make it last weeks. But murder wouldn't help her son at that moment. They needed to nail the old man's ass to the wall of courtroom ten.

"What do we Have? I can have Amelia call a session of the wizengamot right now." Andy said.

Her voice was cold, hard, and resolute. She understood all too well that she had a decade and a half of parenting she needed to make up for. She owed it to Lily and James, she owed it to Sirius, she owed it to Alice and Frank. She was entrusted with a the care of her friend's child and even though she didn't know it she had failed them all. But she had power in the ministry. Two decades of dealing with the corrupt ministry made her a powerful figure in that building.

"What can you do? Bring charges against the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and scion of light? It's not possible. The man runs the country and for all intents a purposes he is untouchable on this island. Even if this evidence was to come to light he could call us liars and black ball you and the bank. We would all lose everything and he would still have the country by the balls. That is why we didn't call you, we called your daughter. What we can do is get the Lord Potter out from under the old man's control and out of the country where he can't legally touch the boy. To do that will require the help of young Ms. Tonks here." Bonebreaker said with a toothy grin.

"What do I have to do to save my little brother?" Tonks asked wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. She had always like the short scrawny teen but now that she knew he was supposed to be her little brother her perspective changed. She'd kill for him now.

"We need to get Lord Potter out of that house. But if we do that your friends in the Order will report him missing. Then the old man will tear the island apart trying to find him. There are still gaps in our paper trail and to see how far down this cave goes we need time to work. Having your help Andromeda would be helpful in the area. You have contacts inside the ministry as a law witch and human. We need a week. Maybe less with your help. Once we have a handle on this and we've taken steps to put Lord Potter out of the old man's reach then we can get Harry Potter out of here. We need you to take Lord Potter on the run after that. He has ten houses around the world and as you know the laws of this island end at the ocean. We will provide you with money from his accounts, travel documents, and anything else you require. You need to travel as muggles to get off the island or you have to notify the ministry that you are leaving and that defeats the purpose of running in the first place. We can provide you with a private jet once you get off the island. We can have one in Paris to take you to a country of your choosing. Also our counterparts in what ever city you chose will help you procure whatever you need. The question is, can you do it?" Bonebreaker asked.

"Yes. I can do it. I have a night shift in three days at the house so we can move out that night. But we can't leave from Paris, we have to avoid that city entirely. It's the closest continental big city and it's the first place the Order will look. Also the old man has contacts in the city. We'll leave from Nice. It big enough to have a good sized population and with the summer holiday in full swing it will be full of tourists. We'll drive there at a nice easy pace. We'll get there in a few days. We'll stop in other big towns and cities along the way to muddy up our tracks even more. I need a list of his properties, I also need enough cash to buy a car and clothes, things like that. I'm also going to need a few magical items. I'll get you a list." Tonks said lost in thought.

"We can provide you with anything you need. We need you to get him here before you head out. It's important that we discuss a few options with him. The options we can provide will insure his safety as well as yours. It's also important that he understand the situation and the fact that we goblins did not have anything to do with this. Lord Potter is the single largest account holder in our branch and high up on the list around the world. If he was to pull his account from the bank it would cripple us. The bad press alone would destroy the bank." Bloodletter said.

"I'll bring him here first, in fact that could play into my plan nicely. I'll bring Harry here to the bank and drop him off so that you and my mother can go over everything you need to. I'll pop back to the house and 'stand guard' really all spend the night getting everything ready to go, including putting compulsions on the Dursleys to lie and say the boy is in the house. I'll hand it off to Shack in the morning. I can tag him in, pop back to the bank, and leave with Harry. Shack will never suspect a thing and we'll be in the clear. No one will suspect the boy is gone for a few days, and by the time they do our head start will be too big. On top of that, no one will think to look for me. But the ruse will only hold up for so long. If I'm not there to take a shift in four days then the old man might catch on. The same with work." Tonks said.

"I can cover for you there. I can say that Ted's mother is sick and you had to go to France to stay with her for a few days until I could get time off. I'll even send Ted down there to lend credence to the cover. It will be a good chance for him to get clear of the island too. That should buy you a week easy." Andy said with a smirk.

"Good thinking Mum! If I'm not missed then they'll just be looking for Harry. We can slip under the radar so to speak." Dora said excitedly.

"Don't get too excited, this could all blow up in our faces in a week. The old man runs the country after all. We're all going to have to pull up stakes and leave the country too." Andy reminded her.

"I know. There is nothing holding me here. I have a job working for a corrupt ministry that I hate, and a second job working for a corrupt old man. I barely have any gold in my vault. The lease on my crappy apartment is up in a few months and thanks to my two jobs I have no social life. Once we get out of the country the ministry can't touch us. And as long as we keep our heads down the old man won't find us. You and Dad on the other hand have lives. You have your law firm and dad has his accounting firm. The house…" Tonks said feeling emotional.

"It's all things dear. I can close up the firm in a few weeks. Miller and Son's has been trying to buy up your father's firm for years. He could sell it tomorrow. We can hide the house, we don't have to sell it. And with the dark lord running around again we're prime targets as it is. Your father is muggleborn and more muggle and magical, and I'm a blood traitor. How high up on the list do you think we are?" Andy said with a sad smile.

"Speaking of lists we should talk to Harry's friend Hermione. She was involved in the ministry incident and I know she's on the dark lord's shit list and Harry will never leave the country without her. The boy loves her. They're good for each other. But they're both too chicken shit to admit it. It might be a good idea for the Grangers to take a vacation to Paris, we can meet them outside the city and drive south." Tonks said trying to see three steps ahead.

"A good idea. We can help them mothball their house and business in the next two days." Andy said with a smirk.

"And I have to make a house call today to explain the situation. They are targets, they need to get out now. I think we might be sending them on their way tonight with some cash, clothes, and new faces." Tonks said.

"We'll get you whatever you need. The head of the bank branch has opened the bank's coffers and we can get you funds now on us until the Lord Potter gets here. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. I suggest we get started." Bonebreaker said.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Caution! There are talks of past crimes including mind manipulation and rape. It is not graphic but readers denigration is advised.

Author's Note 2: Thank you for the overwhelming suppose and positive feedback.

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Harry Potter was having a better summer than he expected. It didn't start out that great. But after the first few days it got better. When he got to Privet Drive, the Order's warnings paid off. The added threat that there was a fully trained wizard within yelling distance killed the last little bit of balls his uncle had. He was left alone for the most part. He was still required to do all of the chores around the house but he was being fed more.

The first two nights back home he had terrible nightmares. He relived that night in the ministry over and over again. He saw his godfather fall through the vale more times then he could count. It was like he was locked in a loop of pain and guilt. But on the third night something inside of him snapped. He watched his godfather fall through the veil for what felt like the millionth time and then his brain just stopped the memory from playing again and his common sense kicked in.

It was not his fault. It was Dumbledore's fault for not paying attention to him and leaving him on his own to begin with. It was Snape's fault he didn't learn to close off his mind by not teaching him. If anything he made it worse. It was also Snape's fault for not helping them when they came to him that afternoon. They tried to go to an adult and what did they get? Nothing!

It was also not his fault his godfather died, it was Sirius's own damn fault! Taunting that crazy bitch like that in a fight. What was he thinking? He was out of practice, out matched, and instead of keeping his head down and fighting he was taunting her. He died because he was cocky. Too cocky in a fight to the death. This was not the school yard. It was life and death and Sirius fucked up.

If anything was Harry's fault it was that his friends got hurt. That was on him. It was on his head. But they all volunteered. They knew they were walking into a fight. And if he was honest with himself he was proud of his friends. A bunch of school kids outmatched Tom's best fighters. His inner circle Death Eaters. And they had surprise on their side against kids.

It was that thought that made Harry smirk. If that was the best he had then the dark lord was fucked. With a bit more training his friends could handle the lot of them. The key was stunning them. Every time they stunned a Death Eater their dark friends got them back up. He needed something better. Something more permanent. Something easy to cast. Something that took almost no power to cast.

Harry flew out of his sleep and flipped on his bedroom light. He opened his school trunk and dug out his school books. By morning he had a list of easy to cast spells that could maim or kill someone. The idea being you couldn't just undo the damage done. Spells like the cutting curse, the blasting hex, and the bone breaking hex. But more then that he knew the key to winning was not getting hit. To do that he needed to be fitter than he was.

From that day on he started a strict regimen of stretching to get limber and push up, sit ups, and squats for strength in the morning. When he was finish with his chores outside he headed into the basement where Dudley's boxing equipment sat collecting dust. He followed the instruction booklet that came with the weight bench and spent an hour every day doing curls, bench presses, dead lifts, and squat lifts. He finished his weight session with pull up until his arms felt like they were going to fall of. At night, right before bed he practiced the wand movements for each spell with a twig he found and practiced dodging and rolls in the back yard. Every night he fell into bed feeling like he was going to die and the next morning he woke up feeling 200% better than the day before.

Because of his magic and workout routine he made huge leaps and bounds in a short time. In a week he gained ten pounds of muscle and two inches of height putting him at 5'7" and 125lbs. It was a big improvement from what he looked and felt like before he started. He also felt more alert and ready for a fight. He carried his wand rubber banded to his left bicep under his t shirt sleeve and he practiced drawing it a few dozen times a day.

Things got better and worse a week and a half after he got to Privet Drive. He was fast asleep when he heard his door open at just a few minutes after midnight. In the blink of an eye he went from asleep to standing in a low crouch with his wand in hand and his glasses on his face. That's when he saw Tonks. She looked shocked for a second before she grinned.

"Watcher Harry, good response time." She said running her eyes over his thin but cut frame. He looked better then when she last saw him.

"Hey Tonks. What's going on." Harry asked going to the window and looking out to check the outside.

"I'm springing you from this hell hole. Here put this on and leave the rest of your clothes behind." She said tossing him a black Nike backpack.

"What?" Harry asked looking confused.

"Look Harry, you trust me right?" Tonks asked looking him in the eye.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"Good, we need to move out as fast as we can. It's life or death. I will explain everything as soon as we get to the bank. My Mum is waiting for you there. It's about Sirius's will. Now put those on and follow orders for the next ten minutes." Tonks said in a pleading tone but her eyes told him more. She was breaking the rules and she was both afraid and excited. With that he smirked.

"Okay." Harry said opening the bag and dumping out the contents on his bed.

Inside the bag was a black adidas track suit, a white under armor t-shirt, boxers, socks, black Nike trainers, a black leather shoulder holster rig, a handgun, four extra magazines, a pair of glasses with black plastic frames, a silver wedding band, a stainless steel Omega Seamaster watch, and a long skinny gold box that looked like a pencil case.

"A gun Tonks?" Harry asked looking shocked.

"Yeah a gun. This is a Browning Hi-power. How long does it take to cast the Avada Kadavra curse? Two seconds? And it kills one man if you can hit him or he doesn't jump out of the way. With that you aim and pull the trigger and keep pulling the trigger until he's dead. That gun is enchanted to be silent, it has almost no felt recoil because of the size of the bullet and weight of the gun, and the magazine holds 15 rounds of 9mm jacketed hollow points. It's loaded and the hammers back. All you do is drop this safety, point, and pull the trigger. Put it on under your jacket. I'll step into the hall so you can get dressed." She said walking out of the room before he could say anything else.

Harry shrugged, dropped his pajama pants and pulled on the new clothes. They fit great and they felt nice and comfortable on his skin. It was amazing what clothes the fit feel like, Harry thought to himself as he tried to figure out how the shoulder rig went on. He opened the door with the gun rig in his hand.

"Help?" He asked.

"I see the straps are way too long. I can fix that. Here. It goes on like this." She said helping him get the rig on and she adjusted the straps to make it a little tighter before she put his thumb to a small red square on the rig. It shrank to fit his shoulders so well that he knew he would have to put his thumb on the red square again to get it back off. She put the four spare magazines in the pouches in the rig under his right arm and she handed him the gun.

"Hold it like this with your trigger finger outside of the trigger guard. Only put your finger on the trigger if you intend to fire the gun, and never point it at anything you don't want to shoot. You got it?" She asked.

"Yeah. I got it." He said holding the gun like she showed him.

"Good put it in the holster and it will vanish." She said and it did.

"Cool." He said.

"Now put on the ring and the watch. The watch is a glamour. It was change your face a bit so you won't get recognized. And the ring goes on your right middle finger. It will mask your magical signature making you harder to track." She said picking them up and handing them to him.

As soon as Harry slipped the ring on it glowed and shrank to fit his finger. He could just barely feel it, it was so light. He took the stainless steel Omega watch and snapped it on his wrist in place of the cheap beat up watch he had which he left on the desk. He couldn't see it but Tonks saw his face change. His almond shaped green eyes rounded out more and turned dark green and brown hazel. His black hair lightened a bit and shrank a bit. His jaw squared up, his nose stayed the same but his mouth thinned out a bit more. Most importantly his scare vanished.

"Good, ditch those glasses and put the other ones on. Put your wand in the gold case and grab anything you can't live without out. But leave the rest of it here. Then we can make like a tree and get the fuck out of here." Tonks said.

Harry followed her instructions and found the new glasses fit his face better and he could see clearer. He put his wand in the gold case and it flashed. He tossed the case into the backpack. He pulled up a losses floor board and grabbed a shabby velcro wallet and a money bag. He tossed them in his bag and put the board back. He pulled his photo album out of his trunk along with his dive knife he got for the second task of the triwizard tournament. He tossed those in his bag as well. He was about to toss his cloak in the bag but she stopped him.

"You're going to need that. Now the last thing we have to do is take care of your owl. She's going to hate this. But we need her eat this treat. It will turn her into a white kitten. It's fully reversible but she might need to a week like that until we can turn her back. Your owl is too easily recognizable and we'll be traveling as muggles. We can't have an Owl with us." Tonks said pulling an owl treat out of her pocket.

"It won't hurt her will it?" Harry asked looking between the treat and his bird.

"No that's why we're using the treat. It's more gentle than a spell. It will hurt a bit but she'll be fine after a few seconds. It's the best option. It's like polyjuice potion for pets." Tonks said sounding sorry.

"Okay, girl, this is going to suck, but it has to happen." Harry said taking the treat and holding it out for Hedwig.

For her part Hedwig looked between the treat and the two humans in the room like they were both crazy. But she shook her head and nipped the treat from her human's hand. She chomped it down and a few seconds she shook violently and squeaked which turned into a cat screech as she shifted into a small snow white cat with puffy hair and yellow eyes. She took an experimental step and almost face planted. She tried again and nodded as she hopped up onto Harry's arms and climbed into the backpack. Harry zipped it up most of the way and put it on.

"Good, now toss on your cloak and let's go." Tonks said tossing her cloak on and vanishing.

Harry followed her lead and pulled on his cloak. She reached out and touched his chest. She followed it to his hand and took it. She lead him out of the room, down the stairs, and out the back door. She lead him three blocks away before she took off her cloak but stopped him from taking off his. She pulled out a gold coin and help it out for him. He touched it and they vanished.

They reappeared in the empty lobby of the bank. Tonks looked around and made sure the coast was clear before she let him take off his cloak. She lead him down a long hallway to a big conference room. Seated at the table were three well dressed goblins and Tonk's mum. The table was covered in folders full of documents as well as a tea tray with finger sandwiches. They all stood when he walked into the room and it made him uncomfortable.

"Good evening Lord Potter. I am Ragnok, head of this branch of Gringotts." Said the oldest of the three goblins as he walked over to Harry and shook his hand.

"It's an honor to meet you sir." Harry said taking his hand.

"The honor is all mine I assure you. I believe you know Mrs. Tonks." Ragnok said.

"I do, it's good to see you Ma'am." Harry said offering his hand but she hugged him.

"Call me Andy Harry, it's good to see you again." She said warmly.

"This is Bloodletter. He's the head of Wills and documents and this is Bonebreaker, he's head of security." Ragnok said finished the introductions before leading them to the table. That's when Harry noticed that Tonks was gone.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Ragnok offered.

"Not right now. Not to sound rude, but I was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and I would love to know what's going on." Harry said trying as hard as he could to be patient.

"I understand. But in order to answer all of your questions we have a few things to cover. You see about two weeks ago Sirius Orion Black was declared legally dead. His death certificate appeared on the records desk in the ministry building. The certificate was brought here and Bloodletter spent the good part of the morning trying to find Lord Black's will. It was misfiled, on purpose we found out later, but he did find it. It was short and to the point. Everything he owned goes to you. So Bloodletter sent a letter to you requesting you to come down here and fill out the paperwork. He got a reply that same day telling him to combine the Black accounts into the Potter accounts. It was signed Albus Dumbledore. This raised a huge red flag. First how did he even get the letter. It was addressed to you. Second what say does the Headmaster have in your affairs? You are a fully grown wizard and the Head of an Ancient and Most Noble House. Because of this we launched an investigation into your accounts and holding and what we turned up is staggering to say the least." Ragnok said.

"How bad?" Harry asked knowing deep down he didn't like what was about to be said in this meeting.

"The depth and width of his meddling into your affairs is staggering. From the moment your grandfather Charles Potter died that old man has been playing with your family's estate like a puppet master. We are just going to run down a list of infractions because if we go into detail on all of them we will be here for days. We can answer any questions you have and feel free to stop us at any moment if you get lost." Ragnok said before stopping to make sure the young man was still with them.

"Okay. let's hear it." Harry said with a sigh as he pulled his new cat out of his backpack and set her on his lap.

"Before you were even born the old man had your father bankroll his little club for five years just like the Malfoy's bank rolled the dark lord. The total cost to your family was 1,780,000 galleons." Ragnok said.

"What's the conversion rate for that in muggle money?" Harry asked.

"We base our exchange system on the US Dollar. One gold galleon is worth $25, a sickle is worth $2.50, and a knut is worth $.25. 1,780,000 galleons is worth $44,500,000 US dollars or about 29,600,000 Pounds sterling." Ragnok said.

"Fuck." Harry said feeling headed. He had a feeling it was going to get worse. Way worse. "Is that a large part of the estate?" Harry asked.

"No, your three Potter vaults total just over 100 million galleons." Ragnok said looking at his notes.

"I have about 2.5 billion US dollars?" Harry asked doing the math in his head.

"No, you have more than that. You have to add in the real estate holdings, the value of the land you own, and the value of stocks and bonds you hold. Plus you have to add the 90 million galleons from the Black estate. You're looking at just over 5 billion US dollars or about 3.4 billion Pounds Sterling." Ragnok said with a smirk. It was good to give the lad good news.

"Bloody Hell." Harry said eloquently. Then he shook himself. "Sorry to take you off track. It gets worse right?" Harry asked getting back to the point he was there.

"Yes. It's gets worse. The day your parents died, he sealed their death certificates so we couldn't processes their will. There will stipulated that you were to be placed with your godfather Lord Black. If he was not available then you were to go to your godmother Alice Longbottom. If she could not take you in then you were to be placed with Andromeda Tonks." Ragnok said handing him the will.

"My god." Harry said looking at Andy who was looking back at him with trepidation. "Knowing Tonks and what she told me about growing up I know I would have loved calling you mum." Harry said taking her hand.

"Oh Harry. I would have loved every minute of it. So would Ted. Hell, he wanted a son so bad he used to drag Dora off to the woods to go hunting or fishing all the time. That girl became a tomboy because of it." Andy said with a smile.

"Well we still have time." Harry said before turning back to the head goblin and nodding for him to continue.

"From 2001 to 2011 Dumbledore has leached over 500,000 galleons from the Potter account until you got your Hogwarts letter. At that point you would have been declared a young Lord. A title which means that you would get to choose who had access to your accounts." Ragnok said.

"Let me guess, 'I' chose him right? I'm sure he even faked my signature." Harry said with a smirk. It fell off his face when he was handed a document in his own little kid writing that said Dumbledore was to act as his financial guardian. He looked at the signature and saw it was written in blood.

"Do you have any recollection of filling out that form or signing it?" Ragnok asked.

"No sir. But this is my handwriting from my first year. I know because Hermione taught me how to write neater the next year." Harry said just above a whisper as his mind ran over the fact that the old man made him fill out this document and then wiped his memory. He looked up at the head goblin feeling violated. Ragnok saw the look and nodded. This wasn't the only time it happened.

"How many times?" Harry asked in a thick voice.

"Every year for that document. And there were others that we will get to in a few minutes." Ragnok said sadly.

"Right. Go on." Harry said holding Hedwig closer to his chest.

"At the end of your second year you killed a basilisk. According to this form. You signed over the rights to the beast's carcass. In blood." Ragnok said setting the document in front of Harry.

"How much was it worth?" Harry asked. By this point his voice was devoid of life.

"The carcass was broken down into it's parts and sold piece by piece. The sum total was about 175,000 galleons." Ragnok said handing him a parchment with the breakdown of what sold for what price.

"Right. By my count that old fuck has stolen more than two and a half million galleons from me. That's about 63 million dollars." Harry said as if trying to rationalize the numbers in his head.

"Yes. This next document is going to be hard for you, and the implications are going to be even worse. The next thing he forced you to sign was this marriage certificate on your fourteenth birthday." Ragnok said.

"I'M MARRIED?!" Harry yelled before taking a deep calming breath. "Sorry about that. Who's the unlucky girl?" Harry asked.

"Ginevra Weasley." Ragnok said handing him the certificate with his signature in blood.

"Molly will be thrilled." Harry said in a dangerous voice.

"I'm afraid that document is proof of more than just a mind wipe Lord Potter. To complete the contract of a marriage in the wizarding world requires the bonding to be consummated.

"You mean… ? When I was fourteen? That would make Ginny thirteen. Oh God. I think I'm going to be sick." Harry said looking woozy.

"This way Harry. Come on." Andy said pulling him out of the chair and dragging him across the hall to a bathroom. Harry just made it to the toilet before he was violently ill.

"I didn't, I mean I wouldn't have done that! Not in a million years! I would never…" Harry said pleading with Andy.

"I know Harry. We all know. The only way this could have happened was they must have stripped you naked, tied you to a chair and she must have mounted you. Unfortunately there are spells to make rape easier in the wizarding world. You were violated Harry. There is no other word for it." Andy said holding his head to her chest as she rubbed his back.

"I feel wrong. Dirty." Harry said as tears fell from his eyes.

"Harry, the truth is you are no different now then you were five minutes ago before you heard about the marriage. Having you mind wiped is both a blessing and a curse. Did something horrible happen to you? Yes. But if you have no recollection of it happening to you, do you have to let it hang over your head for the rest of your life? Does it have to haunt you? No. It doesn't. If your soul is a record of all of your memories and you have no memory of something happening, does it have to taint your soul?" She asked softly as she helped him to the sink to wash out his mouth.

"So you're say I should just forget about this?" Harry asked looking incredulous.

"No, not forget. Just don't let it ruin you. If you do then the old man has won. You don't know what happened to you. You don't know if you were awake or asleep. You don't know if you felt scared or if you felt lust. Were you drugged? You don't know. And with the power that old man has over mind magic you will never know. When a memory is erased there is only a slim chance it can be recovered and that's if it was done by accident or by an unskilled mage. The truth is you will never know. And if he wiped the girl too then you will only know if you get him to tell you what happened. He's a master occlumens. True potions don't work on him and he will never admit to a damn thing. For all intents and purposes it never happened. The only proof anything took place is a piece of parchment. You have your whole life ahead of you. You're going to find a nice girl. And you're going to take her into your bed and when that happens it's going to be your first time. You'll fumble around and most likely make a fool of yourself just like everyone. Because that's the way it's supposed to be." She said smiling at him.

"I, honestly don't know what to say to all of that." Harry said before laughing nervously.

"No, but now you're thinking about potentially disappointing a young woman that you fancy and not thinking about something you have no memory of. Who were you thinking about?" Andy asked conspiratorially.

"Who said I was thinking…" Harry tried to say but he blushed.

"Who is the girl you would be most mortified to disappoint? Who is the girl you thought of when I said it? Is she a cute muggleborn girl with brown hair and eyes? You know that worry at the thought is what makes her special. She's a nice girl Harry." Andy said hugging him as they walked out of the bathroom.

"She's my best friend you know?" Harry said ducking his head.

"I know. Ted was my best friend. Your Mum and Dad were friends first. It's how this works you know?" she said.

"But what…" He tried to say but she cut him off.

"But what? Do you think there is anything that you or she could do to break up your friendship?" Andy asked.

"No." Harry admitted.

"Then what's the harm in asking her out? Worse case scenario you have an awkward dinner and you agree to never do that again. You laugh it off and you go back to being friends. But do you really see the two of you having an awkward dinner together?" Andy asked with a smile.

"No, we could sit for hours and not say a word and it's not awkward." Harry said as a smile formed on his face without him even know it was there.

"Harry, the next time you see your friend I want you to do something for me. Hug her like there's no tomorrow and ask her out. See what she says. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." She said leading them back into the conference room they still had a lot to cover and not a lot of time.

"I will, Mum." Harry said with a smile and Andy hugged him again before he sat at the table again. Hedwig hopped up into his lap and licked his face.

"Are you up to continue Lord potter?" Ragnok asked with an understanding look on his face.

"Yes. There can't be anything worse than this… Right?" Harry half said, half asked as he held up the marriage certificate.

"Yes and no. This is proof that the old man knew Moody was a death eater in your fourth year. He only set up the first payment of Moody's teaching salary. He knew the old Auror was going to get kidnapped and he was going to get switched out for Barty Crouch jr. This document proves he made sure you would get the most dangerous tasks in that sham of a tournament. This document is your Will which states that upon your death three quarters of your estate goes to the old man and a quarter goes to your wife. This document is the magical equivalent of a 'Do Not Resuscitate', and this is the contract which you signed giving the old man your seat on the Wizengamot." Ragnok said handing over each document as he listed them off.

"Jesus, I must have spent a lot of time in his office over the years." Harry said laughing. It was not a humorous laugh, but the laugh of a man that lost his life savings on a rigged game of chance.

"You're not the only one. He's got wills and marriage contracts for a few well off students with no parents. Your friend Neville Longbottom is Married to a girl named Margaret Jones. She's a fourth year Hufflepuff. Her Aunt Hestia is her only relative. Hestia is an Auror on the old man's payroll and a member of his little club. The girl gets a third of the Longbottom estate. I guess Hestia is a better negotiator than Molly Weasley. We will be having a similar conversation with Neville and his grandmother in a few days. Oliver Wood is married to Susan Dodge, Didales's daughter. This is also the reason why Mr. Wood quit a promising career as a quidditch start to join the ranks of the Aurors. We have found four other contracts so far and we suspect other contracts were made in this way going back three decades." Ragnok said with a mirthless smile.

"That sick old fuck. Playing with the lives of kids!" Harry wanted to kill the old man. But another part of him was beyond anger. He could see where this was going. "How do I get out from under the old man and when do I leave the country? I'm guessing I'll be hiding out as a muggle for a while?" Harry asked.

"Good deductive reasoning. There is only one real way to get out from under the old man and to break all of these contracts and agreements. You have to die." Ragnok said.

"Come again?" Harry asked looking shocked.

"You have to die. Not permanently mind you, just long enough for the ministry to issue a death certificate for Harry Potter. According to the clerk that works in the department you have to be dead for about a minute. We have a healer standing by. But before we get to killing you we need to make a new will. And we also have to register you as a new person. You have many family names to choose from. The Potters have a lot of cadet lines. You will pick one, we will register a birth certificate for that person with the file clerk in the ministry records department. We will miss file it of course. It will take them years to find it. If they even know what to look for. Then Harry Potter will fill out a last will and testament bequeathing everything to that new person. You die. We bring you back as the new name. You will effectively become the new identity and Harry Potter will cease to exist. You will be ending both the Potter and Black family lines. But you will be reviving a cadet line and later if you have children they can each claim a title by right of blood." Ragnok said.

"So Harry Potter dies?" Harry said rolling this information around in his head. "For neither can live while the other survives." He muttered.

"What was that Harry?" Andy asked.

"The prophecy. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have a power the dark lord knows not, and either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. Or so the old man says. It could all be a crock of shit. Everything else he says is. I just think it's funny that I have to die so that I can live. It's odd how that works out is all. It would be funny if Goblin banking efficiency was the power he knows not. It's certainly the thing that's going to take down the Old man so that's one dark lord down." Harry said laughing.

"It would be funny. But I'm more worried about this prophecy." Andy aid looking worried.

"Why? I'm not. I plan on cashing out and moving to America. I'll get a few of my friends out and your family of course. Then the old man and Voldy can have this island. It's cursed as far as I'm concerned. I'm done fighting." Harry said relaxing back in his seat.

"How can you say that Harry?" Andy asked looking shocked.

"I can say it because I've been the only one fighting this war for the last five years and it turns out I've been playing with one hand tied behind my back as my mentor has been fucking me over. I'm done. What do I have to sign? And can I keep the name Harry? I'm used to listening for it and it's would suck to change it now. Can you set aside five million galleons for the Tonks family and another five for Nymphadora Tonks? Also how much would it cost me to buy out a dental practice?" Harry asked.

"You can keep your name, I have a list of Cadet lines for you to pick from. We can have the vaults set up with a few quick documents. As for the Grangers they are already out of the country and waiting for you as we speak." Ragnok said handing over the list of names trying to keep his client happy.

"Good set up another account for them, or you know what? Instead of all these accounts, give them access to mine it will be easier that way and less of a paper trail I'm guessing?" Harry asked.

"It would be easier, they each have a Gringots bank card we can just link them to your account." Ragnok said.

"Good, it's my fault they all have to move I should pick up the tab. Let's see that list of names. Cadet lines of the Merlin, Gryffindor, Potter line. Holy shit I'm related to Merlin and Gryffindor?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we thought you knew that? We will have your family book shipped out to you to look over. Now if you can just pick a name?" Ragnok said with a grin.

"Right, sorry, I got distracted for a second there. Let's see what we're working with. Jones, Baker, Smith, Archer. Here we go, Steel! I like the sound of that one. Harry Steel sounds like a cool spy name. Like James Bond. Very cool. I'll take that one." Harry said with a grin.

"Very good Sir. We will have the documents ready in ten minutes. Then we'll call in the healer." Ragnok said as Bloodletter hustled out of the room.

"Thank you so very much for all your help Ragnok. I would like to leave a good bit of gold in my new vault here on the island so you can keep using it and investing it. But I think I'll move most of my holdings over to… where are we moving to?" Harry asked Andy.

"The US Harry. New York specifically. You own a huge penthouse apartment in Manhattan. It's a good place for us to regroup and figure out what we're doing next." Andy said.

"Actually, Lord Potter owns the whole building, not just the penthouse. There are a few vacant apartments in the building. It's one of four properties he owns in the United States. This is a list of property you own." Ragnok said handing over the list.

"Let's see. Apartment in New York, townhouse in Chicago, beach house in Miami, house in the Hollywood hills, a hunting cabin Alberta Canada, apartment in Monaco, a vineyard in Tuscany, a hunting cabin in Germany, a ski chalet in Sweden, a hunting lodge in Zimbabwe. No property in the UK?" Harry asked.

"No, your parents house in Godric's Hollow was confiscated by the ministry and turned into a national monument to the night you defeated the dark lord. The old man sold the townhouse in London, well you did, we have a record of the sale with your blood signature on it. And the only property in the Black estate is a town house that we can't seem to find." Ragnok said.

"The old man uses it for his little after school club. I can't even say the name or address of it because it's under the charm. Let him choke on it. I'm sure I can make do with the ten other properties I have. I was just going to have you mothball anything on the island anyways." Harry said pouring himself a cup of tea and relaxing back into his seat.

Bloodletter came back in with a big stack of documents and a blood quill. What followed was a half hour signing session. When he was done the was now legally two people. He was lead out of the room to a more plush office with a big leather couch. The room was full of muggle medical equipment and two women in scrubs were bustling around the room setting things up.

"Hello, you must be Harry. I'm Dr. Jones and this is Healer Green. We are going to run a full battery of test on you before we get to the main event. Full disclosure, this will be the first time I've helped kill someone. I'm used to bring them back. I work shock trauma. Healer Green is well versed in the Magic behind it though, right Judy?" The blond doctor of about thirty ashed the younger red head.

"There are a few curses and ritual reversals that require death. I've performed this same task three times already and I was successful in bringing the subject back each time with only slight damage to one subject but he was old and injured at the time, you are neither of those thing so I expect this to go off flawlessly." Judy Green said with an oddly accented english accent. It sounded American with touches of London clip mixed in.

"Good, I'm at your mercy." Harry said.

"I need you to strip off to your boxers." Dr. Jones said.

"A bit forward, but I like it." Harry muttered causing both women to laugh as he ditched his shoes, track suit, gun rig, and shirt.

"Good now have a seat on the couch and we'll begin." Dr. Jones said sticking electrodes to his chest.

What followed was an hour long very thorough doctor exam. Not only did they get enough data on Harry to proclaim that he was in good health but they had first hand knowledge of every part of his body. For his part Harry was trying to remain cool as these two beautiful doctors touched, poked, rubbed, and examined him closely enough to tell what he had for breakfast the day before.

"I must say, aside for a severely stunted growth rate you are in peak physical form." Dr. Amanda Jones proclaimed as she finished making notes on her chart.

"Is there a way to fix that? I'd like to see what the right side of six foot looks like. The same with my eyes?" Harry asked.

"Yes to both. I will give you the name of two potions. You can get them at any good apothecary in the world, or your can make them yourself if you know your way around a cauldron. They are OWL level potions." Healer Green said making a note on a small pad.

"Cool, I'd like to see without glasses." Harry said feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"I'm sure a week or two of taking the potions should fix everything. Now are you ready?" Healer Green asked in a clam tone.

"I guess. Let's get it over with." Harry said trying to keep his breathing calm.

"I need you to take a deep breath hold it for a five count and then slowly release for a ten count. We'll do this for a few minutes to get you nice and calm. When your ready I will hit you with a stunning spell. We will monitor you for a few more minutes and then I will stop your heart with a spell. As soon as your heart stops beating and you flat-line we will start a stopwatch. At the one minute mark we'll see if your death certificate was triggered. If not then we'll keep going. You can be dead for up to five minutes without damaging your brain at your age. But we like to keep it under two minutes to cut down on recovery time. As it is you're going to feel like you died for a few days. It will get better with time and exercise. Also we have a healing tonic for you to take." Healer Green explained in a calm soothing voice as she ran her hand through his hair. The last thing he remembered before he was jolted awake was a muttered stunning spell.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Healer Green asked running scans over his body.

"Good, it's done?" Harry asked sitting up on the couch and coughing.

Harry stretched. The truth was, he felt a tightness in his chest and he had the worst headache he had ever felt, but he did feel lighter somehow. Like a weight was lifted from his soul. Little did he know, but a weight had been lifted from his soul. Because he was wearing a glamour, the two doctors never saw his scar flash white, and vanish off his head. In fact it would be days from now before he finally noticed it was gone.

In Little Hangleton Tom Riddle sat in his throne room waiting for his Death Eaters to come back from the raids he sent them on that night. He was sipping a glass of red wine laced with snake venom when he all of a sudden clutched his head and screamed as his connection to Harry was violently ripped out of his head. When his servants finally got back an hour later they found their master on the floor bleeding out of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. A healer would be summoned quickly enough to keep him alive, but it would take almost seven weeks for him to even wake up, and another month after that for him to be back up to half his strength.

"Yes, it took just over a minute for the death certificate to show up. It took only one spell to get your heart working again. Like I said you are a very healthy young man. We'll run you through a full battery of tests again to make sure there was no real damage done, then you have to fill out some paperwork. After that we'll give you a pain potion and a healing tonic and let you sleep for a few hours." Healer Green said with a smile.

"Thank you, both of you. You saved my life. What every they are paying you for this I want to make sure I double it. Because of you two I can live free of being Harry Potter." Harry said holding both of their hands with a heartfelt tone. That made both women smile and blush ever so slightly.

"You are most welcome. We're just happy we could help." Dr. Jones said.

"Yes, you've been through enough, we're happy to help." Healer Green said.

Harry sat through a half hour of tests before he was allowed to put his pants and shirt back on. He was lead back to the conference room and after filling out a mountain of documents he was legally Harry James Steel. He had a light meal of a turkey sandwich, crisps, and hot chocolate before he was given a pain potion and allowed to fall asleep on the very same couch he was killed on an hour before.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that took the time to put up a review. it was the overwhelming positive feedback that made me up my posting time table. i just wanted to worn you guys now the next six chapters are going to be day to day life with not much excitement. It's all set up for the action later. going back and re reading what i have written, it seams meandering, but it's written that way to draw you in. It's world building. after all i have to establish where Harry is in order to show where he ends up.i'm going back and tightening in the plot up a bit but just stick with it. i want this story to feel like IHS. the first dozen chapters of that story bring you into the world. The difference it this is more love story, sisterly bonding, and male bonding and less gun fights for now. I hoe you like it.

FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!

Harry slept like the dead for almost four hours before he was roused from his sleep by Andy.

"Hey kid. Time to get up, you have to get out of here. Dora is waiting for you down the street from the Leaky Cauldron. Also this needs to go on your right ring finger. It's your new head of house ring. Ragnok had it made for you while you were sleeping." She said handing him a platinum house ring with a wolf's head in profile with a small red glowing stone for it's eye. Under the wolf was STEEL in block letters.

"Cool." Harry said putting the house ring on. The ring resized itself to fit his hand and glowed before settling back down.

"I thought so too. It kind of looks like the Black house ring but it has the block lettering and the same red ruby from the Potter ring. It's a good match." Andy said as Harry put on his Nike trainers, his gun rig, and his track jacket.

"Yeah, I got a chance to look at the two house rings. A part of me thinks it sucks I didn't get to wear them. But I got to choose this." Harry said.

"You did, and I'm sure your parents and Sirius would be proud to see you standing up for yourself and taking back what's yours." Andy said pulling Harry into a hug.

"Thank you for saying that. Now is there anything I need before I go?" Harry asked.

"Yes. This bag has a few change of clothes. Some jeans, shirts, socks and such. There is also a wash kit in there as well. This wallet has your new Harry Steel IDs including a US driver's license and a passport, your age is listed as 21 like your birth certificate. The wallet also has ten thousand euros in big and small bills. There's twenty thousand US dollars in a gringotts bag. The bag also has a thousand galleons and a checkbook linked to your account. The black card in your wallet is also linked to your account like all of our cards. These are all the keys to your various homes. All of them have an elf service to clean them and keep them ready." Andy said handing Harry a small black leather weekend duffel bag, a black leather wallet, and a big ring of keys.

"Good, now all I have to do is get my backpack and my bird cat and head out." Harry said feeling uncomfortable. He didn't know if he should hug Andy. He wanted to but he was unsure of the protocol regarding leaving a parent behind when you go on the run. Andy solved his problem for him. She pulled him into a tight hug and he sighed into her embrace.

"I'm scared because both my kids are leaving, but I'm happy you are both getting off this island." She said.

"We'll be careful and I'll watch Ton… Dora's back. And it's not like you're not going to see us soon. I expect you to be off this island by August. We'll be waiting for you in New York." Harry said.

"You're right. Still check in everyday if you can." Andy said pulling back and leading him across the hall to the conference room where Hedwig was sleeping in his backpack on a chair.

Harry pulled on the pack hugged Andy one last time and pulled on his cloak. He walked out of the bank into the bright for, Britain, eight am sun. He squinted and his new glasses got darker and became sunglasses. Harry smirked and walked through the early morning traffic of the alley and out the front door of the pub. He stopped and looked around trying to spot Dora but he didn't see pink hair. He did see a stacked blond in a tight white tennis dress sitting in a brand new white convertible BMW M4. He got closer to the car and saw her looking around like she was waiting for someone. Harry took a chance and ditched his cloak behind a van parked up the street and walked up to the car. The girl turned, saw him, and grinned.

"Watcher Harry." She asked with a smirk.

"Very inconspicuous car. You're keeping this real covert Dora." Harry sad tossing his duffel bag in the back seat and setting his backpack next to it.

"What's covert about two young rich kids taking a trip to the continent. Now get in, we got an hour and a half drive to get to the chunnel. We're booked on the 9:30 train." Dora said as Harry hopped into the sports saloon. As soon as he was in the car she started it up and with a roar she blasted out of the parking spot in into traffic.

"Man I love this car. I just picked it up from the dealer a half hour ago." She said pulling out her phone. She played with the phone for a few seconds and base thumping EDM music came blaring out of the premium sound system.

"This is a nice car." Harry said with a grin.

"I'm keeping it. When we fly to America I'm shrinking it and taking it with us." She said weaving in and out of traffic with ease as she shifted through the gears and her feet in little white tennis shoes danced over the pedals.

"Sound's like a plan. Can you teach me to drive like that." Harry asked.

"As soon as we get past Paris which I plan on doing by noon today. Once we get past there I've set aside three day to get to Nice. We can hurry up and get there fast so we can spend some time on the beach, or we can take our time and I can teach you and Hermione how to drive." Dora said.

"Cool. I also want to try my hand at this gun so I can feel confident carrying it around. I've never fired a gun before. I've never even had a toy gun." Harry said sitting back and letting the sun hit his face.

"Like I said, we can take our time. I want to collect the Granges as fast as we can. They've been in Paris for two days now and they've been worried. I want to collect them so they can relax. I know Hermione was a wreck when I told her about you three days ago. That poor girl has probably been on edge since then. We'll met them at a restaurant just outside of Paris at noon, have lunch, and head south. Speaking of food I got you a breakfast burrito and a monster." She said grabbing a bag from the back seat and setting it on his lap.

"Nice. Thanks sis." Harry said grabbing the burrito and attacking it like only a teen could. He didn't see the smile play across Dora's face when he called her sis.

"No problem. I got a couple of cans of tuna in there too for Hedwig. When we get on the train we can feed her." Dora said.

"Yeah. I wonder if she'll like tuna. She's more of a field mouse type of girl." Harry said and his new cat climbed out of the bag and into his lap. She rolled over for belly scratches, and purred lazily when Harry obliged her.

"You know, I think she likes being a cat." Dora said laughing at the deliriously happy cat.

The trip to Folkestone took just over an hour thanks to Dora's mad driving. It took fifteen minutes to drive onto the train, just under forty minutes to get to France, and by half past ten they were on the road to Paris. Dora was like a devil behind the wheel. She darted in and out of traffic, took corners faster than the principles of grip allowed, and never let them get under fifty miles an hour. They pulled up to a valet for a nice restaurant just outside the Paris city limits. They handed off the car and found seats in the outdoor cafe section. Dora pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in her mouth. She lit it with a small gold lighter.

"Smoking Dora?" Harry asked.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked looking around the other people smoking.

"It's bad for." Harry said confused.

"Not for mages. We can't get cancer. On top of that your magic filters out the toxins. You only feel the warm comforting feeling of the smoke in your lungs and you get the nice little high from the tobacco. The same with booze. Why do you think they let thirteen year olds drink butter beer. There's alcohol in that stuff. They allow it because your magic filters out all the toxins and you only get a small buzz. Why do you think we live so long? Our magic keeps us healthy. We don't get sick that often. It takes a magical bug to put us down. You want one?" She asked seeing that he was the only one not smoking.

"Sure?" Harry said taking the cigarette she offered him and leaned forwards for her to light it.

He took a drag and choked as he got dizzy and felt sick. Then he took a second smaller drag and it wasn't so bad. In fact he got a nice little head rush from it. He relaxed back into his seat and took another puff. Then he felt awkward with the way he was holding the cigarette. Did he hold it at the tips of his fingers like Dora? Or closer to his hand like the man sitting close by? He looked around and saw a man holding it between his thumb and forefinger in a pinch grip and he liked that better. It felt less girly to him. Once he was comfortable with that he relaxed a little bit more. He looked at Dora and saw her laughing at him.

"I remember my first cigarette. The first too deep drag. The coughing fit. The awkward feeling of how to hold it. It's funny to see someone else do it." She said with a sisterly smile.

"I figured it out. It's not bad. I don't like the taste mind you, but the little head rush is nice." Harry said trying to flick the ash of the end.

"You'll get the hang of it. But only if you want to. I'm not forcing it on you. You might want to try a cigar. My dad loves a good cigar. He even likes those mini cigars like from the old western movies. They have a better taste." She said.

"Maybe. Now that I'm mature it's about time I picked up some bad habits. What's a good drink?" Harry asked as the waiter brought their water glasses and their menus. The restaurant was very packed and the service was Paris slow.

"You like fruity drinks or bitter drinks?" She asked.

"It depends. I like some bitter drinks like coffee but I like sweet drinks more." He said.

"Ever had a good glass of wine?" She asked looking at the menu as three people walked into the restaurant.

They looked kind of familiar but like himself they were different. However when the girl turned to look at him Harry knew that was his Hermione. His? Harry thought. Then he shrugged as he stood up and waved to her. She raised her now dirty blond eyebrow at him and he touched his forehead where his scar was. That made her grin and the same light he was used to seeing in her honey brown eye showed through her green eyes. As she got closer he saw her cute nose was longer now and her lips were thinner.

The older woman look just like her daughter with just a hint of laugh lines around her eyes which was funny seeing as without the glamour she looked like an older Hermione. The man looked vaguely Russian with a more pronounced forehead, square jaw, and dark dangerous eyes. An almost full 180 from the man's real face which was warm and friendly, and didn't match his service record in the slightest.

The last time he saw the Grangers was three years ago and it was only a brief meeting but he could picture their real faces under the glamours. They approached the table and Hermione hugged Harry hard. Harry took a deep breath and smelled lavender and citrus and he knew he was home no matter where they ended up.

"I was so worried about you not being able to get out." She said softly.

"I don't know why, it's not like they can track muggles easy, and that's what we are. Muggles." Harry said with a big grin.

"We are until we can get to America. Then we can get new wands and practice magic again." She said with a smile.

"I missed you. I know it's only been two weeks but I missed you." He said as they separated. He saw the adults smiling at them.

"Dan, Emma, it's good to see you guys." Dora said embracing the elder Grangers.

"You as well. Hello Harry." Emma said hugging the boy.

"It's good to see you again Doctor Granger. You as well Doctor Granger. I wish it was under different circumstances." Harry said shaking Dan's hand.

"As do we. but if we're running away together you have to call us Dan and Emma." Emma said with a smile as they sat down.

"I'm happy to see that you guys are up beat." Dora said.

"It was a bit surreal at first but then after we got over the shock it kind of all became a game. It feels like we're in a spy novel, what with the fake ID's, and the disguises, and using big wads of cash for everything." Emma said with a grin.

"Good, do whatever it takes to come to grips with this. Dan were you able to get rid of your cars and change them out?" Dora.

"Yeah, we sold them to the bank for market value, we took the train to get here and I was able to buy a convertible sports car like you said at an exotic car dealership here in Paris." Dan said with a huge grin.

"Dad bought a totally overpriced tiny sports car that barely has two seats." Hermione said shaking her head.

"First of all it is not ridiculously overpriced, I got a good deal. And second, and perhaps most importantly, it makes me look cool. I feel like James Bond." Dan said and Emma giggled. It was obvious that the elder Grangers, who lived a normal, if slightly boring life as dentists, found this whole situation exciting. If she was reading the vibes right Dora was sure the elder Grangers had rekindled their relationship flame.

"I understand where you're coming from, I picked my new name the same way. Harry Steel. It's sounds cool." Harry said showing Dan his new driver's license.

"Nice. Do you think we can change our names too?" Dan asked.

"I don't see why not, we'll talk to the Goblins when we get to New York. So what kind of car did you get?" Harry asked enjoying the male bonding.

"A mint condition 2009 Aston Martin V12 Vantage convertible. It's polar white with black leather interior. The car only had 1,278 miles on it. The guy had it for 120,000 euros, I talked him all the way down to 95,000 euros cash out the door. I tell you Harry, I sit in that car and it's like I'm twenty years younger." Dan said with a big grin.

"I get it, Dora is going to teach me to drive in the next two days, I want to get a fast little sports car. Something Spy looking to fit my new name." Harry said sharing the man's grin.

"I don't know why you guys are all so excited to be on the run for. We are being hunted by wizards." Hermione said in a huff.

"Hermione, you have to relax. Don't worry. We're safe here for now. Once we leave this city the chances of anyone finding us are slim to none. It's why I wanted to put some distance between us and the island before we flew to New York. my ex-partner Shack could track a flight from Paris to New York. He could also backtrack your trip to this city which I know they will once they figure out we flew the coup. They can not track two cars driving out of this city and making a three day trip on a meandering course to Nice. They don't have the manpower or the knowledge of muggle travel without me. I was their resident expert on muggles. Not only am I not there to help them find you guys but I'm making it impossible for them to even try." Dora said with a smile as she put out her cigarette. This action drew Hermione's attention to the ashtray and back to Harry.

"Harry have you been smoking?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes. Wizards can't get cancer and our magic filters out all the chemicals and bad stuff just leaving the slight tobacco buzz. The buzz was nice but the taste is about as bad as you would think. Dora suggested I try cigars." Harry explained.

"I didn't know that! That's amazing." Hermione said shocked.

"You mean you can smoke and not get cancer? How is that fare? And you don't even like the taste?" Dan asked looking like he wanted to murder someone.

"I take it you were a smoker?" Dora asked with a grin.

"Twenty years. The best twenty, when I was young and foolish, and fit. Back when I was in the service. I could smoke a pack and a half a day and still run twenty klicks with a full pack on my back without dying." Dan said wistfully.

"You know, you might be a squib right? If you are then you can go right back to smoking. You can also drink like a fish and eat like crap without fear of dying." Dora said as they ordered.

"A squib is a non magical kid born to magical parents right? It like the opposite of Hermione?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, but in the UK the Pureblood fool think that just because you can't cast magic it means you guys are muggles. In America they have a very different view of things. For starters Magic is more widely spread there. They test everyone when they are born in America and if you have any magic in you then you go to magic school. Because squibs may not be able to cast spells but they can make potions, they can used enchanted items, they can fly on brooms. In a case like your family where Hermione was born with magic and you guys don't have it you would be retested for the presence of a core. I bet if we tested you guys at least one of you if not both of you are squibs. Squibs have a lot of advantages. Tell me, do you guys get sick often?" Dora asked.

"No, almost never." Emma said.

"I haven't had a cold in close to ten years." Dan said.

"How old is the oldest living direct line elder?" Dora asked.

"My grandmother lived to be 103." Emma said.

"My great grandfather was over a hundred when he died. We don't know exact age because of shoddy record keeping." Dan said getting excited.

"When you walk into Diagon alley to get Hermione's school supplies do you feel anything?" Dora asked with a smirk.

"A fluttering. In the pit of my belly. Like going on a roller coaster." Emma said.

"I felt it too but I always waved it off as being nervous about being in that world." Dan said.

"If I could. I'd cast one spell on each of you and confirm it but I'm almost certain you guys are both squibs." Dora said.

"Great. Can I bum a smoke?" Dan asked.

"I think you should wait dear. What if your not and you have to kick the habit again?" Emma asked.

"Shit, you're right of course. Still, the thought that I can get that fix again." Dan said with a dreamy smile. "Why can't you cast the spell?" Dan asked.

"They can track my wand and through it, my magical signature. Then using tracking spells they can hunt us down like blood hounds. We need new wands with masked signatures that are not connected to our magical profiles. That's something we can only get in America. They don't track wands in America because it's a violation of mage's rights. On top of that there are so many magicals in that big country that we will just fade into the background there. If you had a sample size of ten people from America, two would be magicals, three would be squids, and two would know about magic. It's an open secret over there. Grand mothers tell tails of the old days when their families had magic and chances are one of those grand kids will have a core." Dora explained in between ordering lunch.

"It sucks that we have to wait until then." Harry said.

"Well, there is an option. But it's going to be expensive and it's not exactly legal." Dora said thinking about options.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"A one time wand. I know of a guy in Paris that can make one time wands." She said.

"What's a one time Wand?" Hermione asked.

"It's a small stick about half the size of a wand. The stick has a core just like a wand. But unlike a wand you don't cast spells through it, this stick is charged with one spell. It has an activation button and once it fires off that spell it burns out the core rendering it useless. It's illegal to make, and it's illegal to buy or sell. One time wands are used primarily by criminals to commit crimes without leaving their magical signature behind. Most of the time the one time wand has a blasting hex in it, or a cutting curse. And it's used as an assassin's weapon. Some times they are charged with a lock picking spell and used to rob banks. You see where I'm going with this." Dora said.

"What's something like that going to cost? It can't be cheap." Dan asked.

"For a simple, non-lethal, one time wand, it will cost you about twenty galleons a pop. But because it's a non-lethal spell we might get a break on them I have to ask around for the going rate. However, if I'm going to walk into the magical section of Paris then I'm going to get everything we need for the next few days as well as other junk just to throw off the scent trail I'll be making. That means I'm going to buy about a dozen one time wands, and whatever we can think of. It also it means sticking around Paris for a few hours. However I think we're still in the clear." Dora said weighing her options in her head.

"It would be nice to have a set of wands with everyday spells preloaded. Also I need a two week supply of these two potion, and it would be a good idea if we had a few brooms just in case we had to fly away from a bad situation. I'm also thinking that Hermione Granger should very publicly buy a portkey to Berlin, along with a wizard's tent, and magically preserved food. Enough for four people for a month. Not to mention a few books on magical tracking charms and things like that. That way when, not if, the Order get here in a day or two they will know exactly where Harry potter and his girlfriend took her muggle parents. And we are going to activate that portkey in the alley so they can see it went off. It would cost about a thousand galleons all told. Which I have in the car." Harry said.

"Good thinking little bro." Dora said nodding.

"I don't think so. It's dangerous for Hermione to walk around a magical shopping district." Dan said.

"She won't be, I will be going in the same like we talked about, I'll just look like Hermione. Which will raise less flags at first because she's on vacation here. So if the Old fool has spies in the district they will report the Granger girl doing a bit of shopping." Dora said in a close approximation of Hermione's voice as her eyes shifted to golden brown.

"That is both amazing and kinda creepy." Harry said as the elder Grangers nodded without even noticing they were doing it. That made Dora laugh.

Two hours later found 'Hermione' shopping in the Paris magical district called Bobatons because it was on the grounds of the school in the heart of the city. She was trying and failing, on purpose, to hide her transactions. In the hour she was there she hit three shops and each one of the shop owners could give an in depth description of the girl and her purchases. She even had them help her move some of it into three magically expanded trunks with self shrinking enchantments on them so they saw what else she bought. Her next stop was a seedy bar. She walked in looking like a fish out of water and walked right up to the bar.

"I'm looking for Frank Martin." She said.

"Who are you and how do you know that name?" The bartender asked eyeing her suspiciously.

"I am a girl willing to pay for what he's selling and it doesn't matter where I got the name. It only matters that I got the name. I'm not looking for anything dangerous. I'm on the run and I need to be able to perform basic tasks without a wand. I'm looking to buy 20 one time wands and I'm willing to pay 15 galleons each for them. I got a list and I got half the gold on me right now." She said putting a small bag of gold coins on the bar.

"You got the list?" The bar man asked.

"Right here." She said putting a piece of parchment on the bar next to the bag.

"Be back here in an hour." The bar man said said looking at the list.

"We have a deal?" She asked.

"That's what the one hour is for kid. You're not very good at this are you?" The bar man asked smirking.

"I'm no criminal. I'm just trying to get away. I got gold. I need supplies." She said seeing where this could go.

"Look. Follow me into the back. I might be able to help." the bar man said waving a barmaid behind the bar as he lead her into the back room.

The room looked like your standard storage room but he opened a panel in the wall and lead her to a large workroom with three men working on different things. Two men were enchanting one time wands by the crate load. Another guy was working on a potion. Looking around the room she clocked a few things that perked her Auror senses. On a rack in the back she could see a bunch of low quality invisibility cloaks, full length dragon hide coats, dragon hide vests, pairs of dragon hide pants, and three shadow cloaks. She saw shelves full of ready made potions and racks full of enchanted knives and swords. But what really caught her eye was the huge stack of crates full of guns and ammo.

"Impressive non? I am Frank Martin by the way." He said in heavily accented english.

"Very impressive. How much for the armor?" She asked.

"200 galleons each for the vests and the pants and 300 for the coats. They are fully enchanted with comfort and climate charms on them so you can wear them all day every day and not break a sweat. They grow and shrink to fit the wearer like a second skin." Frank said handing over a vest from the rack.

She looked it over. It was high quality ridgeback armor. These were thin enough to vanish under a t-shirt but strong enough to stop a killing curse. They were worth more than 500 galleons. She looked inside and saw it was lined with soft black silk. She also saw a tag with 'Jorgensen's fine dragon hides'. Ah! This was stolen goods from one of the most reputable Leather houses in the magical world. Well one man's loss. She looked at the rack and saw he had ten vests, four pairs of pants, and six long coats. 4,600 galleons for over 10,000 galleons worth of high quality armor. This was going to be a very expensive trip.

"I'll take everything. I can get you the gold or I can get you Euros. Euros would be easier to get and carry. What's with the guns?" She asked.

"H&K MP5k 9mm submachine gun, this is the military version with full auto and three round burst. It has a shoulder sling and folding stock. It's enchanted to be silent, it has recoil reduction enchantments, and the magazines hold 300 rounds. 300 galleons each. Extra magazines are 10 galleons each. I also have HK416 assault rifles in 5.56 NATO with 300 round magazines for 350 galleons, CZ75 SP-01 handgun in 9mm with 170 round magazines for 150 galleons, Sig Sauer p226 Tacops in 9mm with 190 round magazines for 150 galleons, and Sig Sauer p238 in .380acp with a 70 round magazines for 125 galleons, and finally I have a few Wilson Combat Stainless steel tactical 1911's in .45acp with 100 round magazines for 175 galleons." He said showing her each gun.

"I'm going to need two of everything in with an extra mag for each gun. I'm also going to need five extra Sig p226's and ten extra Sigs p226 magazines. If we like your work we might come back for more at a later date." Dora said doing some mental math in her head.

"That's a lot of firepower for one little girl. Just like that's a lot of body armor." Frank said with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, you're being honest with me so I'll be straight with you. Me and a few of my friends are on the run from the UK. You've heard the news about the dark lord right? Well our government is just as bad. In a few months the whole country is going to fall into war. Like I said we're getting out while we can, but we might want to go back one day. I know my boss, he won't be able to sit this fight out for long. The products you sell me will make that easier and I have a very wealthy financial backer that is willing to buy more then what is needed to get the job done. A lot more. Now you can ask more questions and lose a potential repeat client or you can show me more of your wears. I can make one phone call and a case full of 500 Euro notes can be here in a half hour." Dora said.

"I understand fully what you say. If you plan on doing some wet work then you're going to want a few of these. They are ward gates. They bypass wards." Frank said with a grin.

A half hour later and Harry walked into the bar under his cloak holding a black metal briefcase with two million Euros in 500 euro notes. He made his way into the back room and found Dora standing by an auto expanding trunk full of goodies. He dropped the hood of his cloak and Dora smiled.

"Oh good, you're here. Pay the man 720,000 Euros." She said looking expectantly.

"Really? What did you buy?" Harry asked setting the case on a table and started counting out 14 bundles of cash before he had to break a bundle to count out 40 more notes. Frank counted the stack and nodded. Harry closed his case and took the shrunken trunk before walking out of the bar under his cloak. He dropped the trunk off in the BMW and walked into the wine shop the Grangers were browsing.

"How is it going?" Dan asked when Harry showed up next to him out of thin air and the swirl of a cloak.

"Good, Dora spent a crap ton of cash on guns and body armor. She should be meeting us in about a half hour. We should start wrapping up on our end soon." Harry said

"Our three small duffel bags are in the car, the car is parked just up the block." Dan said.

"Good." Harry said.

"Oh, I found a smoke shop while you were gone. I picked up a good selection of cigars for us to try and a carton of Marlboro's for me. I also got you this." Dan said handing Harry a gold Zippo lighter. With a wolf head and STEEL engraved on it.

"Thank you, I love it. But how did you get this made? I was only gone for half an hour?" Harry asked.

"The smoke shop sells them and they do laser engraving right in the shop on a little machine. It takes five minutes. I got one too. Look." Dan said showing off the same zippo but with STONE on the front.

"Stone?" Harry asked.

"My spy name, like Steel." Dan said with a smirk.

"I like it. Although, that does make your wife Emma Stone." Harry said with a laugh.

"I hadn't thought of that." Dan said with a smirk as they brought their selection up to the counter. Dan was reaching for his wallet when Harry pulled a 500 Euro note from his pocket and handed it to the lady behind the counter.

"I have a lot of those." Harry said showing Dan the case discreetly. His eyes got real big and Harry smirked. "The rest of the trip is on me." Harry said.

"No shit." Dan said taking the bags as Harry took the change and dumped it in his pocket.

They walked out to find Dora waiting in the BMW for them. They tossed all the bags into the back seat where Hermione sat and Harry hopped into the front seat. Dan lead Emma down the street and Dora followed until they got to Dan's new sportscar.

"Our first leg is south west two hours to Tours for dinner, then we head three hours south to Bordeaux where we'll stop for the night." Dora said before taking off with Dan following her. Dora lead them down B roads using a map book and when they got far enough outside of town she pulled over and switched seats with Harry.

"Okay, this is a manual car that means this is going to be a lot of fun for me and not for you or the gearbox of my new car." Dora said looking with a sad smile.

It took Harry an hour to get a feel for turning the steering wheel, and hitting the gas and brake, and the foot hand coordination that was shifting. Just when he thought he had a handle on it and he was relaxing into his new skill Dora told him to pull over before they got to Tours.

"You did good Harry, but you're not ready for city traffic yet. After dinner I think we'll switch you out for Hermione. We really have to change your name by the way. There has to be less than a thousand Hermione's in the world. Just like I can't go by Tonks. It's not a first name we can use in public." Dora said with an understanding tone.

"I get it. How about Mia? Pronounced My-ah so I can keep the spelling of the middle of my name and it sounds close enough to my name that I'll turn around when called." she said.

"I like it. We'll tell your mum and dad." Dora said.

"That's something we're going to have to work on too. It's mom not mum if we want to blend in when we get to America." Hermione said.

"Yeah. I can see that." Dora said as she lead the two car convoy into the city proper and they found a nice place for dinner right in the heart of the dinner rush at half past five.

"Good driving kid." Dan said patting Harry on the back when they parked.

"Yeah I was just getting the hang of it when she told me to pull over. We're switching after dinner to give Mia here a chance to learn." Harry said and saw a look of hurt cross Emma's face. Dora saw it too.

"Unless you want to show her. You're the mom after all. I'm just the cool big sister." Dora said.

"It's something I've been looking forward to for a while now." Emma said.

"You can use my car. I'll sit in the back seat. It will be all us girls just. The boys can ride second car." Dora said slinging an arm around both Granger girls as they walked into the small family style place.

"And us two men can be in the cool car. It's not like we want to hang around with girls. Right Harry?" Dan said.

"Um, I like hanging out with girls, they're nice to talk to and easy on the eyes." Harry said playing along.

"Back me up and I'll let you drive to the next town." Dan muttered just loud enough for them to all hear.

"Right, who wants to hang out with girls." Harry said smirking.

"I'll remember that Harry." Hermione said giving him a mock cold glare.

"Suddenly this deal don't seem like a deal no more." Harry said.

"I see what you mean." Dan said making them all laugh.

They shared a nice family dinner and Harry felt better than he had in years. There was a lightness to his soul that he didn't know how to describe. After dinner Harry paid the bill and grabbed the order of salmon filet for Hedwig. They split up when they got to the cars with the girls getting into the BMW with Dora behind the wheel. Harry walked to the passenger side of the little two seater but Dan waved him to the driver's seat.

"I wasn't kidding. You drive." Dan said with a smile.

"In the city?" Harry asked.

"Sure, why not? You got to learn right. Just follow Dora and keep your head on a swivel. Also the clutch pedal is heavy and the gas is light. You'll be amazed how fast you're going." Dan said hitting the start button for him and the car came alive.

"This is so cool. I'm definitely getting one of these. Or like a Ferrari." Harry said shifting into first and easing out of the space after his sister.

"I'll make you a deal. You buy a Ferrari 458 Italia and we'll share cars." Dan said.

"I like that. Although I want you to know that whatever I have is yours. That goes for houses, cars, and anything else. I feel like I got you guys into this situation and I feel responsible for making sure you, and Emma and Hermione have everything you want and need. A few days ago I thought I had a bit of cash. Turns out I have just a hair over five billion dollars. It's more than any twenty men can spend in a lifetime. So from now on, if I want something I'm buying it. A Ferrari sounds like a great purchase. If you want one just say the word and it's yours. The sky's not even the limit. We can by a jet." Harry said with a grin.

"Money isn't everything Harry." Dan warned feeling odd. He didn't want to lecture the boy but he didn't want Harry thinking he could be bought or needed to be bought.

"I know that. Family is everything. Hermione is my family. She has been for years. I hope to ask her out on a date sometime soon. She's the only girl that can see myself with. And if Hermione is family then so are you. Money doesn't buy family. But it buys sports cars, and homes, and five star service. I've never had much. I've never been on vacation. The way I see it I'm on vacation now until I get bored and decided to work. I want to do so much." Harry said with a grin.

"Like what?" Dan asked.

"I want to go fishing. I've never went. My uncle took my cousin every year but I was never allowed to go. The same with hunting and that kind of stuff." Harry said feeling embarrassed about his past.

"I'd be happy to take you fishing and hunting. We'll join a golf club and play a few rounds a week. You know this vacation thing sounds good. I got out of the service and went right into dental school then I spent the next fifteen year building our practice. Emma too. We met in school and she's been right by my side the whole time. It's why we try to take a trip every summer. We work hard and we like to take time off to relax. What else is on your bucket list?" Dan asked.

"I want to go to a bunch of sporting events and concerts. I want to come back here and backpack across Europe, but do it right. By staying in nice hotels with big comfortable beds and room service." Harry said laughing.

"Ah, backpacking Emma style. My wife loves room service." Dan said.

"I don't blame her. The idea of picking up a phone and ordering food to your bed sounds great. I also want to spend a week on a beach somewhere just relaxing and sipping drinks served in a coconut shell with a little umbrella." Harry said.

"Now you're talking son!" Dan said with a grin as they made their way out of the city and Dora pulled over so Hermione could take over. He didn't see Harry's smile when he called him son.

Soon they got back on the road and they drove at a more sedate pace behind Hermione. Dan tested the silence in the car and found it to be comfortable. He pulled out his iPhone and plugged it into the aux jack.

"You like AC/DC?" Dan asked playing with the sound system.

"What's AC/DC?" Harry asked.

"What's AC/DC?" Dan asked looking at Harry like he had two heads. When he saw the teen wasn't pulling his leg and he didn't know, Dan shook his head. "It's a band. It's a great band." Dan said.

"Never heard of them." Harry said.

"I suppose you like new music?" Dan asked.

"I wasn't allowed to listen to the radio. My uncle played conservative talk radio, and my aunt liked to listen to some old bird named Celine Dion or Barbra something." Harry said.

"Oh son, we need to fix this egregious miscarriage of taste. From now on you and me are going to be in this car. The girls can have that one. I'm going to have to run through all the important bands. For the record this is AC/DC." Dan said hitting play and Shoot to Thrill came blaring out of the speakers.

"I think I may have heard this one. I like it." Harry said relaxing back into his seat.

"I'm just going to hit shuffle and see where it gets us. And if you feel like singing you go ahead and sing as off key as you want because I can guarantee I will." Dan said laughing.

The trip to Bordeaux took two hours after they stopped to let Hermione drive and they got there just after nine. Dora took over just outside the city and drove them straight to the Hotel De Seze they handed the cars off to the valet after they got their bags out. Dora lead them to the front desk.

"Reservation for two suites. The name is Dora Hunter." Dora said.

"Yes, you are booked in rooms 401 and 402. If you will just sign here." The concierge said handing over the check in forms which Dora filled out and handed back.

"Morice will show you to your rooms. Would you like anything brought up to your rooms, the kitchen is closing soon." She asked handing Dora the menu.

"Yes, can you send up a dozen chocolate macarons and, fruit the salad with the lemon curd ice cream. Also two bottles of Moscato d'asti and five glasses to Suit 401." Dora said handing the menu back before they were lead up to their rooms.

Each room had two bedrooms with king sized beds. The Grangers were in suite 402 and Harry and Dora were in suite 401 across the hall. After they dropped their bags off in their room the Grangers went across the hall and sat in the living room. They waited for the room service cart to come before Dora expanded the three trunks with the purchases she made.

"What did you buy Dora?" Harry asked snacking on a cookie and sipping his sparkling dessert wine.

"Good stuff. If we ever decide to go back to the UK then we're going to need most of this stuff as it is I'd like each of you to take one of these bags. I got ten of them." She said digging out a cardboard box with black leather messenger bags out of the trunk and passing them out. The bags were simple black leather one pocket bags with a flap to cover the top. The strap was simple leather with a small shoulder pad. The bags were small. Fifteen inches wide, ten inches tall, and three inches deep.

"What's this then?" Dan asked.

"It's a bag of holding. That bag will hold a crazy amount of stuff and stay that light. When you want something you stick your hand in the bag and think about what you want and it it will show up in your hand. Watch." Dora said pulling a HK416 assault rifle out of the crate and sticking it into the small laptop sized bag. She held the bag upside down and nothing fell out. She put her hand in the bag and pulled the rifle out.

"That's cool!" Emma said looking at her bag.

"I figured we can dump all our luggage and things in our bags and only have to carry these." Dora said.

"That's a lot of firepower Dora." Dan said.

"I got two of these. Enchanted to be silent, have almost no recoil, and the mag holds 300 rounds." Dora said handing the rifle over.

"Good God." Dan said taking the rifle and looking it over.

"I figured we can find a spot in the woods tomorrow and test them out. For now take what you want and put it in your bag. I also want all of us to wear these. They are enchanted dragon hide armor vests. These fit tight to the body and are enchanted to feel like you are wearing nothing. They turn invisible when activated. The same like the shoulder gun rigs. I got more of those too. These vest will stop a bullet up to an armor piercing antitank round and stop any spell including one, maybe two killing curses. I want you to put this vest on when you get up in the morning. I also have a pair of pants and a long coat for each of you. Put these in your bags." Dora said handing out the armor.

"This leather vest can stop a bullet?" Dan asked putting the vest on over his head and zipping up the side zips. The vest shrank to his body and vanished from sight.

"Yes. I've seen these in action. The US Aurors have these kind of vests. They work. I also want each of you to keep this in your bags. It's a first aid kit. It has single serving healing tonics, burn cream, bandages, wound sealer, pepper up, headache potion, pain potion, and sleeping drought. I also got you each one of these pocket knives that are enchanted to be razor sharp." She said handing out items as she pulled boxes out of the trunks.

"We keep putting stuff in these bags we won't remember what's in them." Hermione said.

"The bag has you covered. There is a small booklet in the front pocket that lists everything you put in it. And also there is a dump feature. You hold it open and think about emptying it all out. Now this is the box with the one time wands. Let's see." Dora said pulling a cardboard box on with six inch long raw wood wands. Each wand had what looked like a brass tack sticking out the back. They were rubber banded together in groups of five or six. There were more than fifty of them.

"Why did you get so many One Time Wands?" Harry asked.

"I got a deal for buying in bulk. Also, a thought hit me as I was buying them, Dan and Emma can use them." Dora said with a smirk.

"We can cast magic?" Emma asked excitedly.

"Yes. That's why I got a few that do simple things just so they can play with magic. Frank gave them to me for real cheap. Like these two are simple Avis charms. I think he threw these in for free. The same with these four red spark flare wands. I did get a few offensive wands. These five have blasting hexes in case we need to make a door. But the wands that we need tonight are these power level spell wands. Who wants to go first?" Dora asked holding three wands.

"Me, I want a cigarette." Dan said.

"Okay, stay still. We only have three of these. Take that vest off." Dora said tucking two wands into her pocket and coming to stand in front of Dan. She held the one time wand at his chest with her right hand and pushed the brass tack in with her left thumb. The wand glowed for a second and then a golden colored spell shot out of the small wand and hit Dan in the chest. He glowed golden light and then the number 45 floated over his head.

"Your a squib dad!" Hermione said hugging her dad.

"Yes! That means I can smoke, and drink, and eat all the red meat I want!" Dan said.

"It also means that you can fly a broomstick and magical medicine works on you! I can heal your knee daddy!" Hermione said excitedly.

"You can fix my knee?" Dan asked.

"Yes. I can vanish the bones and pins in your leg and regrow the bones good as new! I can also cast healing spells on the scar tissue." She explained.

"Regrow the bones? That sound bad." Dan said looking pale at the thought.

"I doesn't hurt so much as itches. It feels like a colony of ants are building an ant farm made of steel wool in your body. I had all the bones in my right arm regrown. On the plus side after eight hours my arm felt better than it did before I started." Harry said.

"We'll see. Now test Emma." Dan said.

Dora aimed a wand at Emma's chest. The spell shot out, hit her, she glowed for a few seconds, and the number 74 floated above her head. That made all three mages look at each other in shock.

"What? Am I a squib? I want to ride a broom!" Emma said.

"No, Mum, you're a witch." Hermione said in shock.

"What? That crazy. If I was a witch I would have gotten a letter like you did." Emma said waving them off.

"We have another wand, test her again." Harry said.

"I plan on it. But I think it's right. There have been cases of low level mages not getting accepted to magical schools. It happens." Dora said testing her again with the last wand. The number came back 75.

"It's higher! Is it going up?" Dan asked.

"No dad. Magic fluctuates. Usually about two to four points. In your case you could make it to the mage threshold of 50 points. But mum, you're a witch! When we get to New York and we get new wands we'll get you one and I can teach you magic!" Hermione said.

"This is great!" Emma said hugging her daughter.

"The last thing I have is eight of these cheap invisibility cloaks, they don't really get the job done in the sunlight, you can see a shifting outline like a heat wave but at night, or indoors they work as good as Harry's cloak. The best part is they were less than a thousand Euros each. That's about a fifth of the price of a good cloak." Dora said handing the three Granges cloaks.

What followed was ten minutes of playing with their cloaks and laughing. They broke up and headed to their rooms at eleven. Harry helped Dora put away everything back in the trunk. They pushed the empty room service cart into the hall, and got changed for bed. As Dora was getting into bed Harry knocked on her door and stuck his head in when she called out the all clear.

"Dora, I just wanted to say, thanks. Thanks for getting me out. Thanks for teaching me to drive. Thanks for coming along with me. You dropped everything, up rooted your life, and..." Harry said.

"Harry, little brother. The second I heard you were supposed to grow up as my baby bro I knew I had to do everything I could to help you. So I quit my soul sucking job working for a corrupt ministry that was more interested in putting innocent people in Azkaban and letting Death eaters walk free. I left a shitty little flat in a bad neighborhood. I left a name I couldn't stand. Honestly what was my mother thinking naming me nymphadora. Dora is okay but come the fuck on mum. The truth is I left half a life for a better one. If anything I should be thanking you. You're paying for all of this." Dora said with a smirk.

"And I would pay ten times as much. What's mine is yours sis." Harry said.

"Come here." She said calling him over as she sat up in bed. She hugged him and felt him relax into her. "You're a good kid, and you're shaping up to be a good man. I'm happy to be here by your side to watch it happen. Now get some sleep. We got a full day ahead of us tomorrow." She said pulling back and patting him on the cheek with a smile.

"Love you sis." He said dipping his head embarrassed.

"I love you too kid. Now off to bed." She said hugging him again and pushing him to the door with a laugh. Harry walked across the living room and slipped into his huge king sized bed. Hedwig hopped up on the bed and sat on his chest.

"Hey girl. You happy?" Harry asked. Hedwig turned her head to take in the room and the big bed before looking back at him with a grin.

"I know right? Way better then Privet Drive. I meant are you happy being a cat?" Harry asked. Hedwig kind of shrugged and waved her paw in a flying motion.

"I get it. It would be nice to fly. Dora got us some brooms. Maybe I can take you up and we can fly around a bit. Feel the air rushing through your fur. I am sorry you have to stay like that for a week." Harry said. Hedwig shrugged again and laid her head on his chest to fall asleep.

"Night girl." Harry muttered as he turned off the bedside light and fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: First, I want to thank everyone who took the time to review and more importantly to ask questions. Because of those questions I have made changes to the chapters I already have written, as well as to the outline for future chapters. But there are a few question I have been getting a lot and there isn't a place I can find to put the answer, or the answer is in the text but I guess it's not clear/it's coming up but so far away in the story I don't want to lose readers. I will paraphrase the type of question and answer them below.

Q1. Aren't people going to ask where Harry's body is/ Won't the country go into mourning over the death of the BWL/ Why are you setting up a fake trail for the Order to follow if Harry's dead?

A1. First of all no one know's Harry Potter is Dead. For all everyone knows he's alive and is still at his aunt's house at this point. It's only been less than 24 hours since Tonks got him out and she hit his relatives with a spell to say the boy is in the house if someone asks for him. Also they are not to disturb his room. It's the hope of the goblins/Andy/Harry that they never find out he's dead. His new fake birth certificate is misfiled at the ministry. Harry changed his will before he died so no one would get a letter to come to the reading of his will. They had goblins in the records office waiting for his death certificate and they took it to the bank.

The whole point of Harry Potter dying and being reborn Harry Steel has everything to do with him getting out of all paperwork the old man had him sign under compulsion. That includes the marriage to Ginny, the will that states all his money goes to Ginny and the old man, and anything else they might have missed in their search. It was entirely logistical. (with the side benefit of breaking the prophecy). The other upside to Harry being a Steel instead of a Potter is the fact that tracking spells/rituals looking for Harry potter won't work because as far as magic is concerned Harry Potter is dead. (see curse scar for confirmation).

When the Order does find out the boy is missing they are going to search the UK using spells and knocking on doors. When they can't find the boy on the island they are going to look to the closest major city on the continent which is Paris. Especially when they find out the Grangers are in Paris on vacation. It's logical to think Harry ran off with his girlfriend. When they get to Paris they are going to run into the fake story of Hermione buying tents, food, one time wands, and book on tracking spells. They will follow that lead to Germany.

Behind the scenes: My first draft of this story had Tonks taking Harry's place at his aunt's house for a few weeks as Harry and the Grangers ran to the US. The idea being that everyone else from their list would have vanished before Harry Potter. This would have delayed the escalation of the plot but it felt too slow and too much like Investigator Harry Steel where Harry makes a good life for himself in the US and only after a few months does the old man figure out where he is. This way Harry gets to bond with his sister. Spend time with Dan alone for some Man to Man talks. Also Harry and Hermione end up together faster this way because he has Tonks in his corner pushing him to be with the girl. We get chapter 15 action in chapter 5 and chapter 25 action in chapter 10.

Q2. Can You make Hedwig an animagus? Why did you make Hedwig a cat? Can you do the same thing to Crookshanks?

A2. I could make her an animagus, but why? Once Harry gets a wand he can turn his bird into anything he wants. (And he will). As for why I made her a cat in the first place? I hate birds as pets, I think having a big white owl is a dead give away, and if it wouldn't have caused a big stink and I could have fit it in I would have gotten rid of the bird in favor of a normal pet like a dog/cat, or something that's really cool like a magic creature. I would not make a story with no pet. Talking to animals is a big part of the HP cannon. As for crookshanks, like JKR, I forgot about him. By the sixth book I think he's mentioned like twice and most fanfiction omits him totally.

Behind the scenes: I was really thinking about starting the second chapter with the death of Hedwig. A kind of 'this is how my summer has been going' cut to his fat uncle ringing the birds neck. But it felt too cliche. Every author that wants to get rid of the bird has her die in the same way. Vernon kills her by violently. Instead I looked for a work around and came up with turning her into a cat. We see in one of the films they turn birds and other animals into silver goblets in transfiguration class, why not other animals?

Q3. Will we see the old man's reaction to finding out….?

A3. Not really. I feel like if I spend too much time on the old man freaking out over losing Harry/anything else it takes away from what I wanted this story to be, which is a story about Harry getting his balls back and living his life on his terms. By the end of the story the old man, the dark lord, and magical Britain are nothing more than roadblocks. When this story ends, if I did it right, I should be able to write a sequel that has nothing to do with the UK and still have it be exciting. In fact it should be more exciting seeing as a few well placed bullets and a reality check could solve most of the UK's problems (See Old Soldiers Never Die by Rorschach's blot). The end result of the story is Harry pretty much becomes the Harry Steel from the beginning of Black Hand's Old west story minus the grumpy old man stink.

Q4. Are you going to save…..?

A4. Most likely yes. But they might not all come to the US/live with Harry and the group. Or they might choose to go back for one reason or another. I can say now this story is going to have a low Good guy body count. They bad guys on the other hand, they are not going to have a good time.

Q5. How much inspiration are you taking for TheBlackHand724? Will there be other Steels? Will there be any crossovers?

A5. I'm taking most of the world from IHS, but I'm tweaking it to fit my story. I'm adding characters, cutting character, and changing characters to fit the narrative. Harry is the only Steel in this story. He's restarting an old dead cadet line not joining a dying line. There will be no crossovers this story. Like I hinted earlier I might do a sequel to this story that takes place a few years later with crossovers.

Q6. Why are Emma and Dan cool with running away because they're daughter's boyfriend is in trouble?

A6. They are not running away because Harry is in trouble. They are running away because their daughter is a target and through her they are targets. The HP Books treat the dark lord like Hitler, and his Death Eaters like Nazis SS. Hermione is the equivalent of a half Jewish girl in 1939 Germany and her fully Jewish parents are in a worse situation than she is. Now if someone came to you and warned you that your family was targeted by wizard Nazis then you'd pack your carp in your car and run. The fact that they like Harry, and he's providing them the funds to run has nothing to do with the fact that they had to run in the first place.

That's everything i had. Sorry i was so long winded. If i missed something let me know in a review or PM. If you have any more question or if you find something confusing please let me know. Now on with the show.

FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!

The next three days flew by for Harry. He woke up in his big king sized bed when he heard a knocked on his door. He couldn't remember the last time he slept that hard. He felt a hundred times better today than he did the day before and that was a pretty good day. He looked at the foot of the big bed and saw his bird turned cat laying on to blankets in a half awake half asleep stupor.

"You up?" Dora asked through the door.

"Yeah. I'm up." Harry said hopping out of bed and walking to the door. He opened it to find Dora in a light yellow sundress and white tennis shoes. Her blond hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she had big white plastic framed sunglasses perched on the top of her head. She wore less make up today. It all had the effect of making her look younger.

"Hey Kid. The bathroom is free. Go take a shower and get dressed. We're checking out in a half hour then we're going to go find a cafe and get breakfast. Dump your dirty clothes in this bag." She said pointing to a canvas sack by their bags in the living room.

"Yeah. I'll be ready to ge in twenty minutes." Harry said grabbing his wash kit and a pair of boxers before heading into the already steamy bathroom.

Harry took off his watch and hopped into the shower without looking in the mirror. When he got out of the shower he checked the stubble on his face and saw it was just growing in so he didn't bother shaving. He put his glamour watch back on and walked out of the bathroom without seeing his scar was gone. He tossed on a pair of jeans, a black under armor workout shirt, his dragon hide vest, his gun rig, and his black track jacket. He pulled on his trainers and tossed the clothes he had on the day before into the laundry bag and helped Dan get all their bags to the front lobby.

They checked out and Dora lead them to a cafe a few miles away by the waterfront where he took the first dose of the two portions the healers prescribed for him. After breakfast Dan let Harry drive his car again as he continued his quest to find the younger man's favorite band. They drove south to a heavily wooded area where Dora used a one time wand to put up a privacy field around the stand of trees.

They took about an hour to test fire all the guns they got the day before. Dora had a pack of paper plates and some thumb tacks she picked up at a convenient store up the road. She set up a few plates on some of the bigger trees and had them all take turns shooting at the ten inch plates on the trees. Dan was a very good shot. He was a former SAS operator and his trigger control and aim was scary good. With that being said Dora was no slouch. Her dad had taken her shooting all the time as a kid and she was getting some really good hits a well. The kids did pretty good with the pistols which confused Dan.

"You kids are pretty good already. You're doing way better then a first timer should." Dan said.

"We're used to aiming wands. It's essentially like shooting from the hip. To hit anything with a spell you have to have a good sense where your point of aim is because you can't cast spells from eye level. The fact that this gun has easy to use three dot sights and very little kick is also big help. I just have to work on my trigger control." Harry said pulling his plate off the tree. The plate had ten holes that we're all a little high and to the left.

"You're anticipating the shot too much. Try this one. It has zero kick. You won't flinch when the gun goes off." Dan said handing Harry the enchanted Sig p226 tacops with the recoil enchantments and taking Harry's Browning Hi-power. Harry tried it a few times and grinned as his shots landed in the center of the plate.

"This gun is too big for my hand." Hermione said handing her dad the Sig p226 back. "Do you have something smaller?" She asked.

"Try the CZ75. It's a big gun but the grip is nice and slim. Also try the 1911, it fits any hand." Dan said handing his daughter the gun off the table.

"I think the little Sig p238 pocket gun is the perfect fit for you Emma. It's also small enough to fit in a pocket so you don't need to wear the shoulder rig." Dora said helping the other Granger girl find her gun.

"But I like the shoulder rig. It's cool and it keeps with the spy them. I think I'm going to go with the 1911." Emma said with a grin as she set the small pocket gun down and picked up the stainless steel 1911 off the bench.

"That is the sexiest thing I've ever heard you say Emma." Dan said from his place a few feet away.

"Really? Is this doing it for you?" Emma asked with a smirk she put the gun in the shoulder rig hider her left arm and winked at him.

"Damn right woman." Dan said looking at his wife with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Tonight you can show me." Emma said totally forgetting there were other people around.

"Ew. I didn't need to hear that." Hermione said but the smirk on her face told a different story. She knew this trip was good for her parents. They had fallen into a rut in the last few years. She just hoped the next hotel they stayed in had thicker walls. She did not want to hear the sounds of her parents going at it again.

"Sorry sweetie. But the last time your dad looked at me like this you were born nine months later." Emma said with a shrug.

"TMI mum. T.M.I. and you." Hermione said turning on her dad trying not to laugh. "More teaching and less flirting." She said.

"Yes princess. Here try the MP5. This was the weapon I carried in the service. Well not this exact model. I had and MP5-SD6 this model is for concealed protection work. You could wear this under a suit jacket and it would be hard to spot it. The MP5 is a roller delayed blow back submachine gun. It also has the best factory sights ever made. All you do is tuck the shoulder stock into your shoulder, look through the small hole, line it up with the hooded front sight, and squeeze the trigger nice and smooth." Dan said demonstrating for the two kids. He squeezed off a three round burst and put all their round in the center of the plate in a two inch group.

"Cool dad." Hermione said really seeing her dad in his element for the first time.

"Now you two try." Dan said handing the MP5 off to his daughter.

Dan was feeling the adrenaline rush that came from knowing you still had it. He looked over and saw his wife looking at him the way she did when they first met in university twenty years ago. Dan had been twenty pounds lighter and looked like he was cut from granite back then. He was still in good shape, but twenty years was twenty years. He looked at his wife and had to admit that the years had been better to her. She still looked fit and if anything she looked better now than she did back then. She was too skinny back in school. This uprooting of their boring life had been almost all good for them. Emma walked up to him and kissed him hard. As she did her hand snaked down and grabbed his ass.

"When we get to the next town we're going to find a bathroom and you're going to make good on the promises your eyes are making." She said in a low husky tone that made his pants a little too tight.

"Woman, I have half a mind to take you into the woods right now but I don't what our daughter to hear how I'm going to make you scream." Dan said roughly grabbing her hips and pulling her into him.

"I saw a motel up the road back that way." Emma said.

"Dora, can you handle this. We need to head back to town for something to drink." Dan said.

"Sure. the motel is just a few miles back up this road. Have fun you two." Dora said without missing a beat.

"Right. Thanks." Dan said picking his wife up and carrying her back to his little sports car. They blasted out of the area kicking up dirt and rocks a few seconds later. Hermione was blushing bright red.

"I hope he brings drinks back. I could do with one of those monsters." Harry said.

"Your parents are going to fuuuuuuck!" Dora said like a little kid.

"Yes. Thanks for stating the obvious." Hermione said before she started laughing which broke the tension. She looked at Harry and wondered if he would ever kiss her like that. He looked over to her when he felt her eyes on him. He saw the look and blushed as he looked back as the target. Hermione smiled. He would kiss her like that, but she had to start it. He was just too bloody shy for his own good.

The Grangers came back to the area almost an hour later. They both looked happy and content. They both had wet hair. And they both walked a little stiffly when they got out of the car. No one said anything but they all grinned at the two. Dan had a bag of sodas and energy drinks which made them all laugh. They packed the cars and headed southeast two hours to Toulouse where they stopped for lunch at just after one. Harry drove the BMW so Dan and Emma could spend more time together.

After a nice lunch at a little beastro they headed further southeast to Marseille. The drive took four hours and as they followed the coast. Harry started the drive in the BMW but let Hermione take over half way to give her a turn at the wheel. When they got to the city it was just after six. Dora lead them to a great little spot on the waterfront where they had great seafood for dinner. They checked into a suite and two separate rooms at the Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port at a little before eight. They tossed their bags in their rooms and took a walk around the area.

Dora had a whispered conversation with Hermione and after that the group split up with the elder Grangers headed to a little bar, Dora to a small cafe, Hermione lead Harry for a walk along the sea wall. Harry screwed up his courage and took her hand in his. Hermione smiled. They walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until they reached a little pier that jutted out into the sea. Harry led her to the end of the pear and looked out at the big boats parked in the bay.

"It's so nice here. Very romantic. We have to come back some time and do this trip again but do it slower and take our time in each place. You know what I mean?" He said looking her in the eyes.

"I do. Harry, we're friends right? She asked.

"Of course. We're more then friends. We're… I don't know? But were more than friends. I'd say family but that would be weird." Harry said.

"Why would it be weird?" She asked with a smile. She thought she knew, and she did.

"Well, It'd be weird because I want to kiss you." Harry said blushing bright red.

"So why don't you kiss me?" She asked stepping closer to him and looking at his lips.

"That's a good question." Harry said as he leaned in and kissed her.

It was awkward at first for him being his first real kiss, but soon he forget anything else existed in the world because Hermione deepened the kiss and pressed her body into his which fried his young hormonal brain. When they came up for air a few minutes later Harry found his right hand tangled in the hair at the back of her head and his left hand firmly planted on her bum. He blushed and started to pull his hand back but her hand shot out and held it in place.

"That's where that's supposed to go Harry. Leave it there." She said kissing his neck close to his ear.

"I like it there. I was just hoping that you wouldn't think I was too forceful or something." Harry said with a grin.

"Harry, I want you to know something. If you drug me back to the hotel and had your way with me right now I wouldn't think you were too forceful. Because that's what I want to do to you. I have for a while now. But I don't think you're ready for things to go that fast. I think we start with this, and take the next few days to work our way up to that. For now, kiss me Harry, and maybe tomorrow I'll let you touch me somewhere else." She said with a sexy grin as she attacked his mouth again. Harry felt her tongue slip into his mouth and he moaned as she ground her hips into him.

They walked back to the hotel an hour later with two goofy grins on their faces. They headed up to the top floor and they stopped in front of the door to her room, she was not sharing a room with her folks tonight. In fact they were two rooms over and she thought she could hear them when they walked by the door. She opened the door to her room and turned back to look at him with a smile.

"I had a nice time tonight Harry." She said leaning against the door frame.

"You think you had a good time?" Harry said leaning into her. He kissed her. It was a soft sweet kiss that made them both smile.

"Good night Harry. Sweet dreams." She said walking into her room.

"You too. I love you you know that right?" He said as if to clarify things.

"Yes I do. I love you. You know that right?" She said smiling at his cute awkwardness.

"Yeah. See you in the morning." Harry said smiling as he turned around.

"Hey Harry?" She called out and he turned around. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it off over her head revealing her black lace bra. "Something to hold you over." She said with a sexy shrug as she shut the door leaving Harry standing in the hall looking gobsmacked and light headed.

He turned around and stumbled to his room with a big grin. He opened the door and saw Dora sitting on the couch with Hedwig in her lap drinking a glass of wine and smirking. He saw her cloak sitting on the couch and knew she had been watching them. He felt anger at first but then he thought about it and he smiled at her. She was just looking out for him. And how sad was her night? She had to stand on a pier and watch two teens stumble their way through their first snog.

"I'd tell you how things went, but I'm sure you saw." Harry said dropping into the seat next to her on the couch and taking his cat.

"I did, it took you long enough kid. The girl had to practically do all the work." She said with a smile.

"It's not like I know what I'm doing. I never talked to anyone about this stuff. My only real best friend is the girl I love and it's not like I can ask her right?" Harry said.

"I suppose that's true. If only you had a big sister you could come to for advice." Dora said putting her arm around his shoulder and pulling him into a hug.

"Do you have any suggestions wise and all knowing big sister?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"I do. The next time you guys get some alone time turn your brain off and just go for it. You think too much kid. You need to relax. Also from now on when you see her take her hand. Sit next to her. Touch her. Girls are tactile. Also, and this is important, tomorrow when we meet up to check out you have to kiss her in front of her parents. And you can't be shy about it. Don't stick your tongue down her throat and grab her bum but don't just give her a peck on the lips. Kiss her. That way you get it out in the open. Also don't be awkward around Dan tomorrow. You two have been hanging out a lot on this trip and I think it's good for you. Dan's an easy going guy and he knows you love his daughter. He'll probably warn you about breaking her heart but after that he'll go back to being your friend." Dora said.

"He already knows I love Hermione. We talked about it that first time I drove his car. I think he's rooting for me more then you are." Harry said yawning.

"Good. Now off to bed with you. Those healing tonics are kicking your ass." Dora said pulling him off the couch. Harry surprised her by hugging her.

"Thanks for watching out for us tonight sis and thanks for the advice. I love you." Harry said.

"I love you too kid. And I'm happy for you two. Now off to bed and remember try to sleep in as much as you can tomorrow morning. We have a long day ahead of us." She said rubbing his back before she broke the hug.

"I remember. Good night." He said walking over to his room with hedwig on his shoulder. That night he dreamed of Hermione and he slept with a big smile on his face.

The next day they slept in until almost noon. Harry woke up and found that he could see better than he could the day before. He now had bad eyesight instead of being blind without his glasses. He was so excited that he took a shower and got dressed before he put on his glasses which shifted to fit his new prescription. They met the Grangers in the lobby of the hotel for brunch. Harry confidently walked up to Hermione and pulled her into a good but short kiss that had the elder Grangers smiling. He happily took his two potions at brunch, and told the table all about his new poor eyesight.

They drove east to Nice after brunch. They mainly stuck to the coastal roads the whole way to capitalize on the view. Harry again found himself driving Dan's car. The older man gave him a hard look when they first got into the car and Harry smiled.

"I know. If I hurt her you kill me. The truth is, if I ever hurt her I want you to kill me so I don't have to lose her." Harry said without preamble.

"You're serious? That's not just some line right?" Dan asked with a smirk.

"No sir. I've made it this far in life because your daughter has stuck by my side. I can't even picture life without her. I'd ask you now for permission to marry her but I think maybe we should date for a few months first. But just so you know, Hermione is the girl for me. The fact that she loves me back is just crazy. There is no reason a girl that awesome should ever love a bloke like me. The fact that she does is just ridiculous. On a scale of one to ten she's like a twelve and I'm a five on my best day." Harry said looking bewildered.

"I know what you mean. I was discharged from the service after a bad night jump exercise broke my right leg. I was still walking around on crutches with a bloody mess of a leg when I meet Emma. She held the door open for me. Which really hurt my pride let me tell you. I was taught you always hold the door for a lady. Not the other way around. But as I walked past her and got a good look at her I was transfixed. I was so lost I mistimed my next step and ended up falling on my ass. Emma rushed over to me and helped me up. Then she walked me to class carrying my books. I was so embarrassed. When the class ended she was waiting for me at the door. She took my books and lead me to a small coffee shop on campus. I tried to protest but she was having none of it. We sat in that coffee shop and talked for hours. We had a lot in common. We liked the same music and movie, and books. We both grew up in a boring neighborhood and got out as soon as we could. We were both getting over relationships that ended bad. By the time we left I knew. She was the one son. She was perfect and if she wanted to spend time with me then I was a lucky man." Dan said with a nostalgic smile on his face.

"That's an amazing story. I wish our story was as good." Harry said with a grin and a head shake.

"Oh? What happened? By the way, you want one?" Dan asked pulling out a box of small cigars.

"Sure. I'll try one. What is it?" Harry said taking one and turning his head sideways so Dan could light it as he kept his eyes on the BWM in front of him.

"It's a Cohiba miniature cigar. All the taste of a cigar in a smaller easier to smoke package. I got a real taste for them right before Emma made me quit smoking. That was about fifteen years ago when all those anti smoking ads started popping up everywhere." Dan said sitting back in his seat and enjoying his mini cigar.

"I like it. It tastes better than the cigarette Dora gave me." Harry said enjoying the cigar but more importantly he was enjoying the male bonding.

"You were saying how you met my little girl?" Dan reminded him.

"Right. Well the first time I met her was on the train..." Harry and Dan spent the rest of the drive talking about the brown eyed girls they loved.

They made it to Nice just before five. Dora had them park in a self park garage in the city center and they spent the next five hours in the city walking around going in shops and having dinner. Harry was never more than a few feet away from Hermione and he made sure to hold her hand as much as he could like his sister told him. It paid off because by the time Dora rounded them all up they were a lot less awkward around each other. Especially since they spent the last hour sitting on a water front bench with Hermione in his lap kissing and whispering to each other.

They got back into their cars and headed for the airport. They drove right up the a black Gulfstream g550 with the gold bank seal on the tail fin. The jet was sitting in a hanger and as they pulled up to the plane a tall thin blond woman in her twenties with cold blue eyes walked off the jet. She was wearing a black business suit with a knee length skirt, a white silk blouse, and very tall black high heels. When they got out of the cars she stepped up to Dora.

"Mrs. Hunter?" She asked in an American accent.

"Yes. Is the plane ready to go?" Dora asked.

"It is. I'm Abigail Gibson. Call me Abby, I'm your Gringotts concierge. You are going to need these New York plates for your cars. I can put them on and shrink your cars if you don't need anything from them?" The blond asked.

"No we have everything. Please shrink them for us." Dora said.

"Right away Ma'am." Abby said waving her wand at the french number plates to vanish them. She then stuck the smaller square New York plates on the cars before she waved her wand over the cars and they shrank to the size of a matchbox car. She picked the two cars up and handed them to Dora.

"Okay, everyone on the plane." Dora said waving them onto the jet.

When they stepped onto the small plane they knew it was enchanted to the max. The inside was the size of a Boeing 747. There were ten rows of four first class seats in the font of the plane. Behind that was a large conference table with sixteen seats. Next was a full wet bar and two bathrooms. At the back of the plane was a lounge area with a big u shaped couch that could fit twenty people.

"Please take a seat in one of the chair at the front until we take off. Once we get into the air and up to cruising altitude of 35,000 feet and a speed of 1,050 mph you can move about the cabin." Abby said with a warm smile.

They all took seats in the first two rows and strapped in. Abby shut the door and knocked on the cockpit door. The jet powered up and taxied onto the runway. The engines powered up and they rocketed up the runway before blasting into the air. They could feel the power and speed. By eleven o'clock they were at cruising speed and altitude. Abby was the first one to stand up and head to the bar.

"Would anyone like a drink?" She asked.

"What kind of scotch do you have?" Dan asked.

"We have Glenlivet 18 and Highland Park 25." Abby said.

"You have Highland Park 25? We'll take two glasses on the rocks. Harry you have to try this. Have you ever had scotch before?" Dan asked dragging Harry over to the bar where Abby poured two finger of scotch into two rocks glasses, added a big ball of ice to each glass, and handed them out.

"No, I've never had a real drink yet." Harry said and Dan nodded with a smile. He took his glass and clinked it with Harry's.

"To your first real drink. May it be the first of many." Dan said taking a sip as he watched Harry do the same. He was pleased to see the boy take a small sip and savor it.

"Wow, that's an interesting taste. I think I like it." Harry said taking a slightly bigger sip and nodding as the girls approached the bar.

"I'll have a cosmo in a rocks glass over ice if you have everything to make it?" Dora asked.

"We have everything." Abby said.

"In that case I'll take one too. How about you Hermione?" Emma asked her daughter.

"Sure. Is that the drink we had at the Christmas party last year?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. They are really good." Emma said.

"We also have a cheese plate and a fruit plate if you're feeling peckish? Also you can smoke on the plane if you need to." Abby offered as she added ingredients into a shaker.

"I wouldn't mind taking a look at the cheese plate." Dora said with a smile.

"We should be landing in about four hours. I have a portkey to take us to the bank. From there we can expand your cars and I can show you to the Potter building…" She was interrupted by Harry.

"Wait, the name of the building is the Potter?" Harry asked in shock.

"Yes. It's a big 25 floor white marble faced building located on Central Park West and 81st street. You're facing the park and your next door neighbor is the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium. You have the penthouse apartment. Nine bedrooms and twelve bathrooms, a movie room, a library, a game room, a shooting range, a gun room, a formal dining room, and kitchen." She was interrupted by Dan this time.

"Sorry, did you say shooting range?" Dan asked.

"Yes. Apparently the ballroom was converted into a 100 foot long 50 foot wide shooting range. The goblins were contracted to build it in 1950. It was in the paperwork for the house. Just like the magical power outlet installation in 1901 for the whole building. The Potter is a magical residence that offers an elf cleaning service and full time kitchen. There is an underground parking garage in built in 1935. That was later upgraded in 1955 when cars got more popular with mages. The penthouse also has a glassed in roof garden with a 25x100 foot pool, a running track, and an 18 hole miniature golf course." She said read off the FAQ sheet for the property.

"And this is only one of ten houses I own." Harry muttered.

"Harry can we live with you for the rest of our lives. This place has everything." Dan said laughing.

"Sure, why not?" Harry said and Dan could see he wasn't joking. They both shared a smile.

"The apartment comes with four cars, but they are not listed on the sheet, it just says that four of the twenty parking spaces are occupied." Abby said.

"Hey maybe I got a Ferrari you can borrow?" Harry said sharing a smirk with Dan.

"Maybe?" Dan said looking excited.

"I feel like this is where I should caution you. No one has lived in this place for over fifteen years. The elf housekeeping service has kept the place clean, but you are essentially walking into a house built in 1900 and was last updated in the mid 90s. If the place is not to your liking and you don't want to stay there tonight I have a four bedroom suite on hold at the Waldorf Astoria. We have a lot to do in the next week and after that I'm afraid you are on your own. I go back to Europe at the end of the week. The bank might assign you another concierge after I leave but I'm not sure." Abby said.

"Wait, you're working for us for the rest of the week? I just thought you were flying us to America." Dora said.

"No, I have strict instructions from the head of the American bank branch to get you whatever you want. You are to get the full red carpet treatment. You are our third wealthiest client in America Mr. Steel and that entitles you to our platinum level service. That includes access to our fleet of private jets for chartered flights, as well as access to our car service, and access to our goblin builders. Of course all of these things cost money but the fact that you can charter a plane like this is very rare. Less than a hundred wizards in the world are on that list. For a fee you could even keep me on for as long as you're willing to pay. Think of me like a genie, your wish is my command. I know from my boss that most of you need new untrackable wands so I have you booked for a ten am appointment at a master wand maker. I also know that you left the UK with the clothes on your backs so I blocked out some time tomorrow to hit the shops. Aside from that I would like you to go through the apartment and make a list of changes you would like done and I'll have a team of goblin builders in to handle it in the next two days. After that it's up to you." Abby said with a smile.

"So all we have to do is ask and you'll get it for us?" Harry asked. This was a level of service he was not ready for.

"That's the way this works. You want tickets to a show or a sporting event? You want food from a restaurant on the other side of the country? You want a swimming pool full of butterscotch pudding and ten call girls? I can get it for you for a good if not discount price." Abby said with a smile.

"Butterscotch pudding?" Harry asked.

"You want that? I can have it ready by the time we get to the apartment." Abby said pulling out an iPhone.

"No! God No! I'm just saying." Harry said.

"You can't joke around with me about things like that. I can make anything happen for the right price." Abby said with a smirk.

"I see that. Well I'm sure we're going to need a few things. But off the top of my head I can't think of anything at the moment. I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough. For now we just need wands. Later we may need to charter a few flights. There are more people we left back in the UK and we would like to get them and their families out at some point. If you were to drop one of us off in Paris. We could take the chunnel and go pick them up in a van or something. Drive them back to Paris and fly out to avoid customs." Harry said.

"That's an idea, or you could just get a bunch of reusable paired portkeys. It would be faster and cheaper." Abby said.

"Paired portkey?" Hermione asked causing Dora and Harry to look at her in shock. If they didn't know they expected her to know. The fact that she asked was a bit much for them to handle.

"Two objects linked together. A target and a vehicle. The vehicle when activated portkeys to the target object. No matter how far away they are. You don't have to keep buying portkeys that way. I have a bunch of paired portkeys for work. I have these gold cards." She said pulling a business card holder out of her bag and showing them the fifty cards inside. They looked like gold leafed cards with cities written on them.

"So you can buy a set of these paired portkeys, leave one in Tokyo and you can just pop over any time?" Hermione asked looking shocked.

"Yeah? I do it all the time for work. The trip sucks. It's takes like 45 seconds of spinning and you land feeling like your stomach has been turned inside out. But it beats a day long plane trip. When I want to come home I just take the portkey to my office. In a busy week I'm all over the world for work. Close a deal in Paris, buy a house in London, sell a painting in Madrid. You name it I've done it. A set cost about $5,000 but I got a guy that sells them to me for $2,500 a set if I buy in bulk. That might sound expensive but think about it this way for $2,500 you never have to take a plane ever again. I don't even fly to a destination to set up the first portkey any more. I send the card in the mail and when it gets to the bank branch I pop over. How have you never heard of a paired portkey? They don't have them in the UK? You guys at least have safety bracelets right?" Abby asked.

"Safety bracelets?" Harry asked.

"It's a paired portkey that monitors your health. If you get hurt or sick it transports you to the hospital that issued the bracelet. This one is connected to the magical emergency room of my local hospital." Abby said pulling out a stainless steel medical bracelet from her bag.

"I use this if I'm going to a third world country, or if I'm going hiking in the woods, or if I go rock climbing. These things work even if you're unconscious. They also work as emergency portkeys. If you twist this plate and pull it apart it activates. How do you guys not have stuff like this? The UK must really be like a magical vacuum. You know that it's labeled a no go zone right? You can go to non magical Britain but they tell you to avoid the magical parts at all cost. You have to get a special travel permit from our government to buy a portkey to the UK. Not that anyone would want to go there. That would be like traveling to North Korea for vacation. The ICW blockaded the island last year to keep the English purebloods in. You can't get international portkeys off the island without filling out a form. And when British purebloods leave the UK they are watched by local aurors on orders from the ICW." Abby explained which caused the three mages to look at her with gaping mouths.

"How did I not know this? I was an auror. I mean I knew about the paperwork to leave by portkey. It's why I wanted to leave the island like a muggle but I didn't know it was so the ICW could track Brits like criminals." Dora said.

"You think your government likes to give out this information? That's if they even know. I wouldn't put it past the ICW to not tell your ministry about the reason for the paperwork. You guys are treated like lepers in America and most of the world. You all should start practice your American accent. Or you better yet, just say you're from Austria if you walk into a magical shopping district anywhere in the world. You guys aren't purebloods right? The bank is not harboring purebloods?" She asked half joking but they could see she was afraid that they were purebloods and that she was breaking the law.

"No, I'm a muggleborn, Harry and Dora are half bloods, and my parents are squibs." Hermione said.

"Good. There are laws about smuggling purebloods out of the UK. If they can get off the island by themselves the muggle way then it's fine, but if they are the crazy kind that are afraid of cars and don't have electricity in their houses then you can get in trouble for bringing them out of Britain without filling out the proper paperwork. If they get caught doing something odd then it could blow back on you for bringing them over without informing the ICW. You're friends aren't those type right?" Abby asked.

"Neville is. Luna might be. But then again Neville is dating Susan Bones and her aunt lives in Notting Hill in a modern town house. They should be fine and we'll make sure to look out for them." Hermione said thinking about their friends they wanted to get off the island.

"I'm sure your friends will be fine then. The law is really there to help prosecute criminals who get off the island and cause trouble. It's another charge they can level on a criminal when they get caught. Like charging mobsters for tax evasion." Abby explained.

"But how can the ICW blockade the UK if Dumbledore is the Head of the ICW?" Hermione asked.

"Um, no he's not. he might have told you guys that but the head of the ICW is a Japaneses Arch Mage by the name of Hagiru Sato. The UK hasn't had a repetitiveness since the 80's, and they've been kicked out of the ICW since the 90's. Don't you guys get international news in the UK?" Abby asked.

"Not really. The Prophet covers a few stories but then again their news staff is small and they don't have international reporters." Dora said in a voice that sounded haunted.

"Well the UK is not in the ICW and until you just brought him up I've only ever heard of Dumbledore in passing." Abby said.

"How can we be this cut off from everything?" Dora asked.

"You're an island. Technically in Island inside and island. the only magic you know is what's taught at school, the only mag world you know is the one in the UK, the only press you get is a paper practically run by purebloods, and from the way you guys talk about it, it sounds like the UK mages just go with the flow. it's the opposite in America. Magic is all over the place, not concentrated in one place. Every city has a paper and news station. in fact we have whole tv channels dedicated to Magical programming, and American's pride themselves on question everything.

"That's good to know. What else should we know about America so we can fit in better?" Harry asked.

"Let's see, we drive on the correct side of the road like most of the world." Abby said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Dan said laughing.

"The currency is the US dollar of course, but you can use it in magic shops. In fact almost no one uses gold galleons. Everyone takes dollars. You'll find that there is very little difference between magical and non-magical shops. We don't keep things very separate in general. Magic is an open secret in America. For the most part, Mages keep their magic to themselves and non-magicals just shrug off the oddities. America is a big place and folks tend to live with the people they feel the most comfortable with. Take for instance The Potter apartments. It's a magical residence. There are squibs living there but probably not a lot of non-magicals. But walking into the Lobby of the building you wouldn't know it was a magical building." She explained.

"But how do they explain away the wizard robes and witches hats?" Hermione asked thinking about all the adult mages she knew.

"Robes and hats? Really? Mages wear that stuff everyday in the UK? We only ever wear that stuff during special occasions or formal state dinners. Mages wear regular clothes pretty much everywhere." Abby said trying really hard to not sound like she was looking down on these Brits but come on. Wizard robes and witches hats? It's like they are a hundred or more years in the past. It was like dealing with Amish people.

"It must be hard to hide magical crimes from the Muggles though right?" Dora asked.

"Magical crime is almost nonexistent in America. Petty crimes committed by mages are investigated by local cops trained in magic. We do have Aurors, but they only handle major crimes committed by or against mages. They are highly skilled and they have the authority to use deadly forces if they deem it necessary. They're like the Magical FBI. and our magical court system punishes mages harshly for crimes committed against non-magicals. The use of magic in a theft could net you real jail time, mages that use their magic to rape, murder, or harm a child usually end up getting the death penalty. We are taught at a young age to use our magic responsibly. If you break the law you face real jail time. Every magical family has a horror story about a family member that did something stupid and got executed for it. Most of the time it's just a ghost story to scare kids straight but. It works. America might have a crime problem in big cities, but not a magical crime problem. Mages are too afraid to misuse their power." Abby said.

"What's the education system like? Hogwarts is supposed to be the premier magical school in the world." Hermione asked knowing this was going to hurt. Harry knew it too. He slipping his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"First off, I've heard about Hogwarts. Odd name for a school, but I've heard about it. There may be some validity to their claims. We don't have many all magical schools like that in America. Mage children, for the most part, attend regular schools and take weekend or after school classes in magic. Only kids that have a real talent for magic take more than that. Advanced magical courses are offered in about a dozen universities in the country. In America it's more important to be able to do math and science then charms and potions. As a whole you will be more skilled than the average wizard but probably less skilled then a really dedicated university student who is studying to get a masters in a specific field of magic." Abby said.

"What about OWLs and NEWTs?" Hermione asked.

"What are those?" Abby asked.

"Exams magical kid have to take to prove they have an understanding of magic so they don't get their wands snapped and their cores bound." Hermione said said in a voice that was coming to a very dark conclusion. The supposed 'best magic school in the world my ass.' she thought leaning into Harry.

"Jesus. We don't have anything like that. Magic is a voluntary thing. There are mages that never get any formal training. They just picked up a few spells and potions from their family. What kind of barbaric country did you guys come from?" Abby said looking shocked.

"Obviously a backwards dark one. But that's behind us now." Harry said hugging Hermione. He wanted her to know he was right there with her.

"Well, in that case welcome to the new millennium. I'm sorry if I'm starting to get repetitive or rude but it's just so shocking to hear the way you guys live. It's like meeting people from a lost tribe in the jungle. I've been around the world and I can say without a doubt that the things you've said about the UK are borderline crazy. I never went into the magical side of the UK. In fact if the goblins have to do business with people from outside the UK they do it at a small office in downtown London." Abby said.

"Well, I for one am looking forward to America. From the way you described it, it sounds like that land of milk and honey." Harry said.

"It is. Mages on average make more than non-mages because of the galleon exchange rate. They live in nice houses, drive nice cars, and put their kids in private schools. Being a mage in America gets you access to some really nice private clubs and events. I can get you set up at a very nice private country club in New Jersey that's about an hours drive from you apartment. They have a stunning 18 hole golf course, as well as a sporting clay shooting range, horseback riding, polo, and a host of other activities. We're in the heart of the baseball season. That means Yankee games or Mets games. You have a townhouse in Chicago that is right next to Wrigley Field. I can get you Cubs tickets. American league Quidditch is also right in the middle of their season. I can get you tickets to a New York Dragons game. Or a better yet a Chicago Shadow Cats game. The Cats have an all girls first line this year and they are leading the league at the moment." Abby said.

"Is American league like the UK league?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so. American league is played in football stadiums. That's real football by the way, not soccer. It's play six on six. Five chasers and a keeper. The games are two hours long and split into four half hour quarters. Each goal is one point. Teams usually have three lines of chasers and two keepers. I suppose it's more like hockey now that I think about it. The season runs from the first week in March and runs to the beginning of August. There are like 30 teams split into east and west coast conferences. A season is 100 games long. At the end of the regular season the top eight in the east and west play each other in a best of five bracket elimination style system. The league finals is a best of seven match. The Dragons won last year but they sold off half their team to make salary cap. Chicago looks like they are going to do it this year. The L.A. Bears always make the playoffs. The same with the Vegas Vampires, and the San Francisco Unicorns in the west. In the east it's the New York Dragons, Chicago Shadow Cats, and the Miami Sand Sharks that always make the playoffs." Abby said.

"Wow, I'd love to see a game. Maybe we'll set that up for day after tomorrow." Harry said and Abby's phone rang. She stepped into the back to take the call and the rest of the Brits stood around the bar trying to absorb everything they heard in the last hour.

In ones and twos they split up. Harry sat with Hermione on the couch in the back of the plane. Dan and Emma sat in the front of the plane. Dora stayed at the bar. Hermione practically sat in Harry's lap as they sipped their drinks and talked in low voices about nothing. Hedwig spent a lot of time in Hermione's lap trying to comfort the girl. They didn't talk about all the things they just learned. As if talking about them would make it all the more true. Instead they talked about all the things they wanted to do when they got to America. Dan and Emma talked about the fact that their home was considered a third world country in the eyes of the wizarding world. Dora thought about everything she heard and tried to digest it all as she made her way through most of the cheese plate.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: The last chapter I posted was not the updated chapter. There was a very important bit of text that i added in my draft on Word but forget to update the chapter i uploaded before i posted it. I copied the updated text and i'll post it here. If you read the last chapter after 2am on November 28th then you've already read the updated text.

Updated text:

There are laws about smuggling purebloods out of the UK. If they can get off the island by themselves the muggle way then it's fine, but if they are the crazy kind that are afraid of cars and don't have electricity in their houses then you can get in trouble for bringing them out of Britain without filling out the proper paperwork. If they get caught doing something odd then it could blow back on you for bringing them over without informing the ICW. You're friends aren't those type right?" Abby asked.

"Neville is. Luna might be. But then again Neville is dating Susan Bones and her aunt lives in Notting Hill in a modern town house. They should be fine and we'll make sure to look out for them." Hermione said thinking about their friends they wanted to get off the island.

"I'm sure your friends will be fine then. The law is really there to help prosecute criminals who get off the island and cause trouble. It's another charge they can level on a criminal when they get caught. Like charging mobsters for tax evasion." Abby explained.

"But how can the ICW blockade the UK if Dumbledore is the Head of the ICW?" Hermione asked.

"Um, no he's not. he might have told you guys that but the head of the ICW is a Japaneses Arch Mage by the name of Hagiru Sato. The UK hasn't had a repetitiveness since the 80's, and they've been kicked out of the ICW since the 90's. Don't you guys get international news in the UK?" Abby asked.

"Not really. The Prophet covers a few stories but then again their news staff is small and they don't have international reporters." Dora said in a voice that sounded haunted.

"Well the UK is not in the ICW and until you just brought him up I've only ever heard of Dumbledore in passing." Abby said.

"How can we be this cut off from everything?" Dora asked.

"You're an island. Technically in Island inside and island. the only magic you know is what's taught at school, the only mag world you know is the one in the UK, the only press you get is a paper practically run by purebloods, and from the way you guys talk about it, it sounds like the UK mages just go with the flow. it's the opposite in America. Magic is all over the place, not concentrated in one place. Every city has a paper and news station. in fact we have whole tv channels dedicated to Magical programming, and American's pride themselves on question everything.

"That's good to know. What else should we know about America so we can fit in better?" Harry asked.

"Let's see, we drive on the correct side of the road like most of the world." Abby said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Dan said laughing...

That was the text i added. It's important to the story and when i read a review asking about the ICW it clicked that something was wrong. I looked back and saw it wasn't the updated chapter. Aside from that thank you for all the reviews and PMs. Keep them coming it's fueling me to keep typing. At a certain point you guys are going to catch up to me and i'll start posting one chapter a week. For now i'll try to put up two.

FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!FBtMW!

The plane landed in Newark New Jersey and taxied to a hanger just after nine o'clock local time. They got off the plane and gathered around Abby as she held out the gold business card with 'Office' on the front. With little warning they were spinning through the air before they landed in nice big office. The walls were white marble to match the white marble floor with black marble diamond inlays. Most of the floor space was taken up by a big old mahogany desk covered in files and brown leather desk chair. They were ushered out of the office before they got a good look around.

The bank was closed at this time of night and the only few goblins still in the building guards in armor carrying battle axes. Most of the lights were turned off and in the low light the goblins blending in with the shadows. Abby lead them out the front doors which were shut and locked by a big goblin as soon as they walked out. The outside of the building was nothing remarkable to look at. It looked like every other old brick and mortar building in the financial district. The sign above the door proclaimed the place to be Gringotts Saving and Loan. Abby expanded their cars in the almost empty parking lot behind the bank.

"Just follow me and I'll lead you right to the building. Oh, and you can take off your glamour watches. This is your new home, you don't need to hide here. If the British ministry sends someone here to get you they will run into about a dozen of the best trained Aurors in the world." She said getting into a black Maserati GT.

She lead them out of the parking lot with Harry following in Dan's car, and Hermione following him. She took them up 7th avenue all the way to the park. She cut down 59th street heading west and hooked a right heading north on Central Park West. As they drove Harry was doing his best to keep his eyes on the road and look at all the sights and sounds of the city around him. He had a feeling Abby was driving slow so they could look.

They drove past the museum and Abby pulled into a covered driveway in front of a big white marble faced building. The roof of the covered driveway proclaimed The Potter, and Harry smiled. Abby got out of her car and told the valet something. He moved her car just to the end of the driveway as a large man in a dark green suit with long coat, vest, white shirt, green tie, and white peaked cap walked up to Harry as he got out of the little sports car. Harry took off his glamour watch and put it in his pocket.

"Welcome to The Potter. Are you here to see someone?" The big six foot tall three foot wide black man with a friendly smile asked.

"No, I live here. Well I'm a new resident. Harry Steel, the penthouse." Harry said shaking the big man's hand.

"Right, we were told to look out for you. I'm Mike by the way. We got a few deliveries that came in today for you. They are waiting by the front desk. Do you need help with your bags?" Mike said.

"I think we can manage Mike. Thanks for the offer." Harry said getting the Granger's bags out of the little sports car so the valet in a green vest could take the car.

"It's my job sir." Mike said getting the door for him.

Harry lead the group into the Lobby with Abby following him close behind. The lobby was green and white marble with big green marble pillars and dark green carpet runners. There were dark brown leather wing back chairs set off to the side in little corner alcoves with brass ashtrays and wood newspaper racks. The front desk was a big mahogany wood bar with a huge wood mailbox grid covering the wall and a tall thin woman in her early twenties with black hair pulled back into a bun. She was in a dark green dress and white blazer. She smiled a when she saw them.

"Good evening, welcome to The Potter. How can I help you?" She asked but before they could answer Mike chimed in.

"This is Harry Steel and his family. They are moving into the penthouse." Mike said with a grin.

"We've been expecting you. You have two gift baskets, and a few letters." She said getting on the short wooden ladder on a brass track and pulling a small letter from the top mail box. She handed it to him before she pulled two huge gift baskets covered in shrink wrap from behind the counter.

Harry handed off the small weekend bag he was carrying to Dan and took the surprisingly heavy baskets. They were full of wine, chocolate, cheese, and fruit. One tag said it was from his New York Gringotts account manager Venom Drinker. The other, smaller basket was from John Coldwell, Building manager of the Potter.

"Thank you, Beth." Harry said reading her name tag.

"You are most welcome. If you need anything just pick up the phone and hit '0' and it will connect you to the front desk here. Room service is done by the menu in your kitchen. And once again, Welcome to The Potter." Beth said with a winning smile.

Harry nodded as he followed Abby to the brass plated elevator. He got on and made sure everyone was in before he hit the top button that said Penthouse. They rode to the top. When the doors opened up they saw a small entryway with green and white marble tile, dark wood walls, and a big green door with a gold knocker and a nameplate that read Penthouse. Under that was STEEL. He opened the door with a gold key from his ring of keys and let everyone in. The first thing they saw was an eight foot tall grizzly bear standing on it's hind legs in a roaring poses with his arms up.

"Fuck me!" Harry said almost dropping the two baskets.

"Wow, would you look at that." Dan said looking at the bear before looking around.

The apartment was huge with fifteen foot high white plaster ceilings, dark wood paneled walls, and green and white marble floors. It was easy to see who designing the building. It was also easy to see the Potter men were hunters. There were stuffed deer, elk, and moose heads on every wall and bear skin and other animal hides on the floors acting as runners in the big fifteen foot wide hall ways left and right of the entryway.

The entry way was the halfway point of the house with two wings left and right. In front of them was a formal sitting room with uncomfortable looking Victorian style white couches and polished wood tables and the formal dining room with a huge wood table with place settings for 24 people. Behind the dining room was a huge kitchen with a professional eight burner range, big steel door refrigerator and double ovens big enough to bake a side of beef. All of the counters were white marble. In fact aside from the stainless steel appliances the whole kitchen was white. It was the only room in the house without dark wood paneling. The walls were white marble.

On the left wing of the house was all the living areas. Starting with the double doors leading to a modern shooting range that was 50x100 foot, with a long table across the width of the room acting as a shooting bench and gun racks on the wall with the doors full of hunting rifles and hand guns. There had to be about thirty long guns and at least as many handguns. Under the racks were ammo crates full of ammo cans. On the back wall were thick metal plates and targets on stands that could be moved forwards or backwards and left or right with a remote on the long table. The room was under heavy wards. You could feel the magic in the room.

"Nice!" Dan said but his voice sounding muffled. Harry looked confused for a second before picking up a 1911 off the gun rack. He checked to make sure it was loaded before he fired at a target. Everyone flinch expecting a loud report but it sounded just barely audible.

"Sound muffling charms! The room is covered in them!" Harry said leading them out of the room. "That's so cool! Did you see all those guns?" Harry asked.

"We have everything to go hunting. Maybe we can add to the already impressive collection of trophies." Dan said patting the younger man on the back. They knew where they were going to be spending all their time.

Across the hall from the shoot range was another set of double doors. Harry opened them and inside was a huge 50x100 foot library with a big fireplace on the back wall. The walls were lined with floor to ceiling wood bookcases full of books with a big wood and brass ladder on a track. Green carpet covered the floor and gave the room a warm feeling. There were two big dark wood desks facing each other from the left and right sides of the room with big leather office chairs. There was a big 4x12 foot dark wood table in the middle of the room with eight big brown leather chair around it. In front of the fireplace on the back wall were two big wing back leather chairs and a leather sofa. There was a door on the other side of the room. Harry looked inside and found a small white marble bathroom with a toilet and sink.

"I love it." Hermione said walking to the desk on the right and sinking into the big brown leather desk chair. "Oh baby." She said with a sigh.

"That good is it?" Emma asked sitting in the other desk across the room and sighed as she sank into the chair. "It is. This is where you can leave me." Emma said.

"Come on we still have a few more doors." Harry said.

Harry opened the door next to the library and found a big 50x100 foot game room. There was a full mahogany bar with two dozen bar stools and about a hundred bottles of different booze on shelves. There were three glass door refrigerators full of beers and sodas. The bar had three keg taps but no kegs. There was a full sized pool table, a Foosball table, a big air hockey table, a table tennis table, and two real green felt topped card tables straight off a casino floor. On the back wall was four pinball machines, and six stand up arcade games, including pacman, galaga, mortal kombat, and streetfighter. There was even an old fashioned coin operated slot machine. There was a jukebox in the corner and it looked like the whole room was wired for sound.

"Best. House. Ever!" Harry said practically running around the room just pointing at things.

"I have to agree. This is like a man's playground." Dan said walking across the hall and opening another set of double doors before stopping dead in his tracks. "Harry! You need to see this!" Dan called out.

"What is it? Something good?" Harry asked leading the rest of the group over and they too stopped dead.

The room was 50x100 foot. It was split in half and turned into two 50x50 foot rooms. One side was a gun room and man's study. A dark green rug took up the middle of the room. Around the room on every available wall space were wood display cases with glass doors and glass shelves filled with guns. There were two big wood desks one on each side of the room facing each other. In the middle was a big table with a leather top and gunsmithing tools. There were a couple guns laying on the table in different stages of repair. Around this side of the room were museum style display case tables with antique firearms, blades, and war memorabilia from every war the Potter's fought in. But it was the other side of the room that there were all staring at.

The room was set up like a garage with two hydraulic lifts and four foot deep mechanic's pits carved into the marble floor. There were tools on pegboards around the room and tool carts, and tool chests. There was a cherry picker holding a stripped out V8 short block. Sitting in one of the bays was a half disassembled dark gray 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. Sitting in the other bay was a complete 1969 Chevy Camaro convertible in jet black with white racing stripes. The car was sitting low on fat tires and big five point muscle car rims. Harry slipping in behind the wheel and turned the key. The car turned over a few times and started right up. Harry revved the engine a couple time and an exhaust fan in the ceiling kicked on and sucked the fumes out of the room. Harry killed the engine and grinned.

"While, I got a convertible so you can start driving your own car again Dan." Harry said making them laugh.

The last room at the end of the hall was a 50x80 foot movie theater with a raised seating platform with three levels. Each level had a big couch and four recliners, and tables to hold drinks with little reading lamps. At the front of the room was a big 15 foot tall 26 foot wide screen. At the back of the room behind the raised seating was a entertainment center with a big projector. On the side of the room was a small concession stand with a popcorn maker, and glass display shelves for candy. There were two big six stall bathrooms at the back of the room one for boys and one for girls.

"First order of business. We need to upgrade this set up with a modern projector, blu ray player, and video game consoles." Harry said.

Harry lead the group back to the other side of the hose where the bedrooms were located. This side of the house was slightly shorter than the other wing but it was still big enough for each bedroom to be 30x50 foot. Each room had a 30x20 foot sitting room with a couch, a couple of chairs, a entertainment center with a TV and VCR. Behind that was a 30x15 bedroom with a king sized bed two end table and a dressing table, behind that was a 15x20 bathroom with a big tub, stand up shower, toilet, and double sink. Opposite the bathroom was two 10x7 foot walk in closets.

Each room had some kind of theme. Half the rooms had some kind of hunting theme. Be it woodland hunting with deer heads on the walls, or waterfowl hunting with stuffed birds and wooden duck decoys. Or African safari with stuffed lions and zebra skin rugs, and safari furniture. Or arctic hunting with a set of stuffed white wolves, moose and elk heads on the walls, bear skin rugs, and wolf fur blankets on the bed.

The other four rooms looked like they were designed by a woman. They played on a color theme. Everything in the room was the same color but different shades. For instance the the blue room had dark blue oriental rugs, Ming vases, powder blue couches, and sky blue bedspreads. In these room the walls were covered in tasteful art and there wasn't a dead thing in sight.

The only bedroom that was different was the master suite. The room was 50x100 foot wide. It consisted of a big 50x50 room, The walls were dark green on top with a wide dark wood chair rail and wood paneling under that. The floor was also dark wood. There was a big fireplace opposite the bed with a leather couch and two chairs. The back wall was covered in big windows with heavy dark green blackout curtains. Hanging above the huge fireplace was a Norwegian ridgeback head that was stuffed and mounted on a big wood plaque. There were two doors on the left side of the room and one door on the right. There was a big green oriental rug under the big king sized four post bed made of dark wood with dark green curtains and bedding.

All of the furniture in the room was big and grand. The bed was bigger than a king and the four post bed frame around the huge bed was massive with a big dark wood and green leather bench built into the foot of the bed. The nightstand tables had enough room to house a lamp, an alarm clock, a pitcher of water, a drinking glass, and a felt lined tray to hold your wand, jewelry, wallet, gun and glasses, and there was still room on the table for a book or two. There was a chaise lounge chair next to each end table. There were two small writing desks in the room one on each side with a chair, bankers lamp, leather writing top, calendar, date book, stationary and gold pen set. The couch and stuffed chairs were big and heavy but also soft and comfortable. Looking around the room Harry was struck by the grandness of the room. Everything was so big it made the huge Dragon's head hanging on the wall like normal.

On the right side was a 25x30 master bathroom with a huge tub big enough for four people, and stand up shower also big enough to fit four, a double sink and two roomed off toilets. On the left was a 20x10 foot wide man's closet and a 20x40 foot woman's closet. The man's closet looked like a country club locker room with racks for clothes covering three quarters of the walls and a big leather topped island in the middle with drawers for folded clothes. The other wall was shelves for shoes, and pulled out draws for watches, tie clips and pins, and cuff links. Also on that wall was bench to put on your shoes. The woman's closet was ridiculous in a house full of ridiculous. There were racks and shelves for everything you could possibly think of. There were four chairs and a fainting couch in the room for entertaining Harry guessed with a laugh.

Both closets were half full of clothes, shoes, coats, and jewelry. Both closets had separate sections for different occasions. In his grandmother's closet she had a dozen or so Chanel skirt suits in pastel colors and dark colors for things like afternoon tea and functions of that sort. Hunting/shooting/riding clothing like wool and tweed suits and skirts, flannel and canvas shirts, and leather riding boots and coats. Lounging clothes like cashmere sweaters and cardigans, well worn jeans and slacks, and house coats in three different fabric weights. The last section was formal events and parties clothes like ball gowns, fancy dress, shawls, capes, witches robes and hats, and cloaks.

His grandfather's closet was set up much the same way with different kinds of suits/ slacks and jacket for all of the same occasions. The two big differences were his lounging clothes and his hunting/sport section. The hunting section was impressive. His granddad had everything from arctic fur lined leather jackets and pants, to full tweed gentlemen's hunting and riding outfits, to full African safari khakis, boots, and even a pith helmet. For lounging clothes his granddad only wore jeans, canvas button up shirts, and black band t-shirts. All of them had oil and grease stains on them from years of use fixing cars and guns. Harry found a 1981 AC/DC concert t-shirt and that made him smile. He took a white dinner jacket off the hanger and slipped it on. It was way too big on him. His grandfather, like his dad was tall and well built, but it was the same style jacket Sean Connery Wore in Goldfinger. Most of his grand dad's suits were nice. He would have to have Hermione resize them for him when she got her new wand. Or maybe not if he kept growing from the potions. If he was lucky he could get to where he should have been. He ditched the jacket and picked up the pith helmet and set it on his head. He looked at his reflection and laughed.

He walked out of the closet and looked at the opposite side of the room again. Something didn't feel right. The master bathroom took up half the 30x50 foot space sectioned off by the wall. If the bathroom was 30x25, what happened to the other 30X25 foot space?

Harry felt the wall with his hands and found a very slim gap in the wood paneling. He traced his hand over the door panel and the panel pushed in and slid to the side to reveal a vault door with no dial or keypad. There was just a red crystal embedded into the center of the door about the size of a sheet of paper. On a guess he placed his right hand on the red glass and after a few seconds it glowed. Harry heard a series of clicks and clanks and the heavy vault door pushed in. Behind the door was a bank vault. The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of plate steel covered in runes that glowed faintly. There were metal shelf units full of valuables.

Walking around the room he saw velvet lined steel boxes filled with jewelry. Shelves with packs of hundred dollar bills. Ten pound bricks of gold and silver. Trunks of old rare books. Trunks of fur coats. Boxes with gold coins. One shelf unit just had shrunken old fashioned cars and motorcycles from the 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's. There were shelves with swords and knives. One shelf unit had leather and wood gun cases with custom engraved and gold filled guns. He even found a box full of wands and a shelf full of old racing brooms. Hermione walked into the room and found him in the vault.

"Wow. Would you look at all this stuff." Hermione said.

"Well now I know where the jewelry from the master closets went. By the way the master closets are full of nice things if you and your mum want to talk a look. Ball gowns and the like. We have to exchange these old bank notes for new ones. By my count that stack is five million dollars in cash. For some reason I think that might have been grand dad's walking around money." Harry said pulling a nickel plated 1911 with gold filled engravings out of a wood case.

"Yes, you're grandparents sure seemed to be flashy rich people." Hermione said pulling a white fur coat out of a trunk and pulling it on. "What do you think?" She asked with a smirk as she modeled the big fur coat.

"It looks good but it's missing something. Here." Harry said putting a platinum and diamond encrusted tiara on her head and laughing.

"You're joking but I make this look good." Hermione said walking out of the vault to look in the full length mirror in the bathroom.

"That you do love. That you do." Harry said coming to stand next to her in the bathroom. He took the pith helmet off and that's when he really saw his reflection for the first time in days.

"My scar. It's gone." Harry said rushing up to the mirror to get a closer look at his head.

"What do you mean your scar… Oh my god! Harry your scar is gone!" Hermione yelled as she grabbed his head to look at his forehead.

"What's going on in here? I heard yelling!" Dora said rushing into the room.

"Dora, my scar is gone." Harry said.

"Well yeah, you have a glamour… no, you took it off. My god kid. Your scar is gone." Dora said.

"What does this even mean? Is Tom dead?" Harry asked.

"No. If he was dead we would have heard about it by now. But you know what? You died. You died for a whole minute and when you got back up you were Harry Steel. Not Harry potter. Harry, I think you're connecting to the prophecy is severed." Dora said.

"Holy shit!" Harry said feeling light headed. Both women grabbed him and took him into the bedroom. They dropped him into the black leather sofa in the room.

"Harry, we have to call the goblins and mum." Dora said.

"Look I agree. But it's like three in the morning there. We'll call her in the morning. For now let's take a look at the roof and then head off to bed. Is Abby still here?" Harry asked.

"Yes. She's taking notes about things we want to change. Dan and Emma are taking the blue room. But they want to get a new tv for the room. I'm in the arctic room next door. I like the bear skin rugs and wolf fur bed spread. Hermione, are you in the green room or the pink room?" Dora asked.

"Green I think. I'll go see what it needs." She said walking out of the room only to walk back in to drop off the teira and fur coat.

"Dora, I feel kind of weird in this big room, should I offer it to Dan and Emma?" Harry asked his sister.

"I don't think so Harry. It's you house, you're the master. You get the big room." She said.

"Right, but they're older and married." Harry said.

"Harry, in less than six weeks Hermione is not going to be staying in the green room. If you both sack up it will be less than six days. Where do you think she's going to be staying?" Dora asked. He looked at her confused for a second and then his eyes got really big.

"Here? Is that's going to be okay with her folks you think? I don't want to put them in an awkward position. They're living with me and then I'm going to be, well, you know, with their daughter. That can't be cool with them." Harry said.

"I think maybe you should just let things happen, and as awkward as it might sound now, you should talk to Dan about this." Dora said.

"Yeah. That's a great idea. What am I supposed to say?" Harry asked.

"Tell him exactly what you said to me. You two have been bonding over the last few days. If things keep going like they are and you and Hermione get to the point that you want to move in together then talk to him. Ask him if he'll be cool with it. If not, then ask him what he would be cool with. Maybe they can move into another apartment in the building. Who knows, you might bring it up with him and he might just laugh and shrug. He's an easy going guy." She said standing up and patting him on the back.

"Yeah. I should go put that stuff away and get the cash out of the safe." Harry said getting up.

Harry retrieved his small duffel bag, his backpack, and his metal briefcase full of Euros. He put the euros in to the safe and stuffed the 500 packs of hundred dollar bills into the case. It didn't fit by half so he dumped out his backpack and shoved the old currency in to the back pack. He walked out of his room and met the groups as they were heading up the back stairwell located in the kitchen to get to the roof.

Dan was leading the way so he got to see the roof first. The stairwell opened right up into the floor of the roof garden. As soon as his head got above the stairwell the lights around the garden lit up. The roof was 400x120 foot and the stairwell was located in the back center of the roof. The roof was totally sealed from the outside world by a bird cage of steel beams that bolted to the perimeter of the roof and shot up twenty foot before it peaked in on all four sides and met in the middle in a rectangular pyramid of glass.

The roof was laid out like a french garden with paths that criss crossed and broke up the big space into smaller easier to manage sections of lawn and garden. Lining the paths were old fashioned gas lamp posts that cast a soft glow around the roof. Around the outside edge was a running track and just inside the track was 18 holes of miniature golf laid out around the edge. There were no windmills but there were oddly sloping natural greens with small ponds, rocks, and sand traps. There was a big white gazebo draped in white Christmas light in the center of the roof. There were picnic tables and a brick and mortar grill close by. The large lap pool was located on the right side of the roof and there was a good sized hot tub next to it. There was a small shack in the corner by the pool. The little 10x10 foot shack was expanded on the inside and acted as a field house. There were two bathrooms in the little shack along with putters and balls for the mini golf, horseshoes for the spikes stuck in the ground by the gazebo, Frisbee, footballs, and baseballs and gloves.

They were all too dead to play around tonight but they all promised to try to get in a game of minigolf and try out the pool soon. They all headed back down and Harry handed the backpack to Abby.

"Hey Abby, can you do me a favor? I've got five million in hundred dollar bills but they're old bills from the 90's. Can you exchange them for new hundreds?" Harry asked.

"Sure, I'll have it with me when I stop by in the morning. Remember we have a ten o'clock appointment at the wand makers. I want to leave here at nine." She said.

"I understand. I'll have everyone really to go by the time you get here." Harry said.

"Good, I'll see you in the morning." She said walking out the front door. Harry locked it behind her and turned around to she Hermione standing there.

"Walk me to my door?" She asked with a smile.

"Sure." Harry said taking her hand. He lead her to the right and as they walked he realized how ridiculous his house was. That made him laugh.

"What?" she asked.

"This place. It's so over the top." Harry said.

"It is, but it's fun. You need fun in your life Harry. We all do. Look Harry, no matter what we do, we need to take time to be fun. These last few days were good. You were not Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, a teenaged boy with the weight and guilt of a whole country on your shoulders. You were Harry Steel, a teenaged boy that learned to drive, and got to make out with his girlfriend. Before you go back to being The-Boy-Who-Lived, maybe you should try living as Harry Steel for a few more months. You might even get lucky kid." She said with a mischievous grin which made Harry blush, then a questioning look fluttered across his eyes

"What makes you think I want to go back to…" Harry started.

"Harry, if there's one thing I know it's that you are going to save that backwards, cesspool of an island. Andy is working with the goblins to get our friends out. Then she's going to get as many innocent people out. Will she get them all? No. There are just too many people and the purebloods have a head start. As we speak some one is most likely getting killed. And it sucks. But it's not your fault. It's not my fault. But one day we're going to get word from back home that is going to put you over the edge. Then you're going to want to go back." She said with a sad smile as she lead him to the couch in her room and sat him down. Once he was down she sat in his lap.

"I don't know what you're talking about. My scar is gone. The prophecy is broken. It's not on my head to save the British wizarding world. It's not on me to fight a grown up war for people that could care less about you and me. And hopefully I won't have to. Maybe I'll get lucky and the old man and voldemort will kill each other before they come looking for me. But I know this much. The second Tom is dead things will go back to the way they've always been in the UK. The purebloods will get off for the right amount of gold, the sheep will forget that the wolves are among them, nothing will change and the next dark lord will come to power in that vacuum of shit. And you know what? I don't care if it does. Because that island is cursed Hermione. It will always be the dark hole of magic. Abby's words unlocked something in me. I just don't care. I can't care. The island is not worth saving. The light side is just as bad as the dark. They can all rot for all I care. We have friends that we care for. We can offer them asylum here in the US. but it's on them to take it. I can't keep sacrificing my life for people too dumb to know that it's time to get off a sinking ship. I have you and that's enough for me. I'd also like to get a hold of the records for the next generation of kids that are going to start Hogwarts and offer them an alternative here in the states. But I can't make people go." Harry said with a sad shrug as he dropped his head onto her shoulder.

"So in your mind it's a write off?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. At a certain point the Island will die. The snake keeps eating it's own tail until there's nothing left. It's not my fault and it's not my job in life to fight for the sheep." Harry said with a head shake.

"What's time is it?" Hermione asked looking at her blank wrist and pulling out a small notebook she always carried in her pocket. She wrote down the date and looked at him.

"It's ten minutes to midnight. Why?" Harry asked looking at the watch in his pocket as she marked down the time. She wrote something else and closed the notebook.

"I'm marking down the date and time so I can remember this conversation. That way, in a few months, when you make the decision to fight the war I can mark it down and calculate how many days it takes for your Gryffindor instincts kick in. It will be a fun experiment." She said with a smirk.

"You have that much confidence in me?" Harry asked sounding hurt.

"I do. I'm confident in the fact that you can't stand by and watch innocent people die. It's what makes you, you. You always save people. It's in your blood. Your very soul. And it's not a bad thing. It's what I love about you. Just like a I'm confident I'll be right beside you when you do because watching out for you is what I do. And I'm confident that we won't die fighting this war because we have outside help this time. It's not just a group of school kids fighting adults with schoolyard jinkes." Hermione said hugging his head to her chest.

"You're sure?" Harry asked looking resigned.

"I am. Just like I'm sure we should be songging instead of talking about this heavy stuff. Now," she said slipping off his lap and flicking off the light in the room leaving just the light spilling in from the bedroom behind them. It cast the room in a dim light and harsh shadow.

"You're a teenaged boy, and I'm a teenaged girl, and I'm sure that you would much rather be doing this then talking." She said pulling off her shirt and dropping into his lap. Harry stared at her with open mouth shock.

"I don't know what to… where to." Harry floundered. Hermione grinned, leaned over mashing her black lace covered chest into his, and kissed him.

"Don't think, just put your hands wherever. Just let them wander wherever they want." She said with a grin as she attacked his mouth again pushing him over on the couch and laying on top of him. At some point kissing turned into touching and they both fell asleep topless and happy.

Emma got up at 2am. After years of getting up at 7am everyday she could never sleep past her normal start time even if she just went to bed a few hours ago. She got out of bed and took a walk to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. The house was so big they needed to put a mini fridge in their room. On the way back to her room she stopped off at her daughter's room. She opened the door and saw both kids cuddled together on the couch. The door creaked and Harry's eye shot open. He looked confused, then he looked down and saw Hermione topless, then he looked at her with wide panicked eyes. He was about to start waking Hermione when Emma waved him off. She approached the couch and pulled the throw off the chair. She laid it over them with a smile. She disappeared into the bedroom for a few minutes and came back out with an old fashioned alarm clock. She set the clock on the table by the couch.

"It's set for seven. No one will be up that early. You can make it back to your room." She said with a smirk as she slipped out the door and shut it. Hermione rolled her head and looked at Harry's wide eyes.

"Was that Mum?" She asked in a voice heavy with sleep.

"Yeah, she set an alarm for seven." Harry said.

"That's nice, go back to sleep Harry." She said rolling over so she was spooned up to him and took his arm and wrapped it back around her so his right hand was cupping her breast. "Hum, that's better." She muttered as she passed out again. Harry shrugged, smiled, and went back to sleep. Had he still been connected to the dark lord's mind he would have killed Tom with the happy thoughts he was having at that moment.


	6. Chapter 6

The alarm clock rang at seven and Harry shot out of his sleep and off the couch so fast that Hermione was confused by the sudden movement. She looked up and saw Harry holding the clock, he set it down and smiled at her. He walked over and kissed her.

"Hi." He said with an embarrassed smile.

"Hi." She said with a confident grin as she sat up and let the blanket fall. She saw his eyes go wide and that made her laugh.

"See something you like Harry?" She asked stretching and pulling her hair back.

"I see something I love. Someone." He amended.

"Good answer." She said pulling him down on top of her to kiss him.

"Mia, I have to go before your dad gets up." Harry said.

"Why?" She asked kissing his jaw.

"Because it would be dumb to make it to America only to get killed by your dad." He said kissing her one last time before standing up and collecting his shirt, vest, and gun rig.

"I'm sure dad wouldn't mind." Hermione said.

"And I'm sure I'd rather not find out the hard way. Now, I need a shower, and breakfast so I can take my potions. You need to get up too. We got a long day ahead of us." Harry said.

"Fine. But you're acting like a chicken for no reason." She said walking into her bedroom.

Harry walked out of her room and down the hall to his own. He saw Hedwig sleeping in his bed. Well at least someone got to sleep in a comfortable bed last night. His neck was killing him. He took a long hot shower and sat under the spray long enough to work some of the stiffness out of his neck. When he got out he saw he really needed to shave. He had four days of stubble on his face. He started to reach for his wand and remembered he didn't have one. Now he was in a real quandary. He had only ever used the grooming charm to shave. He looked in the wash bag Dora put together for him and saw a disposable razor and a can of gel foam.

"Gryffindors charge ahead. How hard can it be?" Harry muttered looking at the razor.

A minute later Harry rushed out of his room in his white bathrobe holding his bleeding neck as blood ran down his arm. He almost ran head long into Dan who was walking out of his room.

"Hey kid, where's the fire?" Dan asked.

"I need a band-aid. I cut myself trying to shave." Harry said and Dan saw the hastily washed off shaving cream and blood dripping down his neck.

"Right. I can help. Come on." Dan said dragging Harry back through their suite of rooms and into the bathroom.

"Wash your face off and let's see what we're looking at." Dan said digging out his shaving kit.

"I put the gel on and I just touched the razor to my neck and the blood just started pouring out." Harry said washing off the blood to expose the half inch long cut on his neck.

"Oh son, you got yourself a good bleeder. This is going to sound strange but. Swipe your finger on this antiperspirant and smear it on the cut." Dan said rolling out his speed stick. Harry followed his instructions and in seconds the cut stopped bleeding.

"Give it a few more seconds. The aluminum in the antiperspirant restricts the capillaries and speeds up clothing. In a minute you can wash it off and it should be fine. It happens sometime when you first open a new razor." Dan said.

"I wouldn't know. I use my wand, there's a spell that cut hair but not skin. But I don't have a wand so I tried the razor." Harry said.

"I see. Here, let me teach you then." Dan said pulling out a can of cream and a razor.

"Thanks, I have no idea what I'm doing." Harry said lathering up his face.

"First off all those cheap single blade razors suck. This has five blades. Also, you don't have to press hard. The blades are sharp and they do all the work. Now I like to shave down. Like this." Dan sad tilting Harry's head to the side and showing him.

"I see I was pressing way too hard." Harry said.

"Everyone presses too hard or too soft the first few times they shave. And that spell you use made your face very soft. I'd suggest you use a razor for a while to toughen up your face a bit. That way if you're ever in a pinch and you have to shave with a cheap razor you won't bleed to death." Dan said laughing.

"How do I do my neck?" Harry asked.

"I go up, but my skin is like shoe leather. Just keep going down. You know your hair grows in pretty good, you could grow a good beard in a few weeks." Dan said keeping a close eye on the boy as he finished up the last swipe of his neck.

"I was thinking about growing a beard but it was against the Hogwarts charter." Harry said.

"Well that's not an issue anymore. Wash your face. Then slap on some of this. It's going to burn but that means it's working." Dan said pouring some Old Spice on his hands.

"Fuck me. This bites." Harry said waving at his face.

"It's sealing all the small micro cuts on your face. We'll stop off in a drug store and get you a good razor and some after shave, after all I'm sure my daughter is not going to want to kiss you smelling like her dad." Dan said.

"You're right, I should wash my face." Harry said laughing. Then he got serious. "Thanks for taking the time to teach me how to shave. I've never had…" Harry started to say and Dan cut him off.

"Look kid, Dora told us a bit about the abuse you put up with growing up. She came to talk to us last night after you talked to her about trying to give us the master suite in your own house so I know some of the story. If you want to talk about it, or if you want to know something like shaving or the like. Just ask. You're a good kid Harry. Better then you should be with the way you were raised. You don't have to keep thanking me. And you don't have to sneak around in your own house. You're too noble to push things too far too fast, and my daughter is too smart to get knocked up. I don't care what you do behind closed doors." Dan said laughing at Harry's shocked face.

"How did…" Harry asked.

"I saw you trying to sneak down the hall earlier. I was just getting up and wanted a bottle of water. I saw you doing the walk of shame." Dan said with a chuckle.

"Right. We both had our pants on." Harry said.

"I figured as much. I'm happy you're with my daughter Harry. I'd much rather have you as a son in law then some punk kid that's going to break my baby's heart. You're a good man and I know you'll take care of my daughter. You're the type of man that would kill for his family. I should know, I'm the same way. Now go get dressed so we can get some food in our bellies. We got a full day ahead of us." Dan said leading them out of their room.

"I love Hermione, but I'm glad you and Emma are a part of the package deal." Harry said before jogging back to his room. Dan smiled at the boy's retreating form as he headed to the kitchen.

Harry got dressed for the day in jeans and a blue button up shirt over his dragon hide vest. It was the last outfit he had in the duffel bag. He was glad they were getting wands today so he could clean his clothes. He pulled on his gun rig and walked into the kitchen. He found everyone sitting at the big island in the kitchen. They each had a plate full of breakfast in front of them and they all smiled at him when he walked in. even Hedwig was sitting next to the counter with a big bowl full of grilled fish.

"Good morning. How does the room service work?" Harry asked.

"You order off the menu by selecting the items you want with the pen in the holder and setting the menu on the silver holder next to the silver tray and the food appears a minute later." Dora said.

"Cool." Harry said grabbing the menu and looking it over. He selected bacon, eggs, and hash browns, toast and coffee with a lot of cream and sugar. He set the menu on the holder and it flashed. A few seconds later things started showing up on the big serving tray. A minute later and his breakfast was ready. He took a seat next to Dan and started eating.

"Dora, did you call your mum and tell her about my scar?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. I called her about a half hour ago. She said that lines up with what's going on back there. The dark lord's been quiet for the last three days. His death eaters have stopped raiding houses." Dora said between bites of waffle.

"That's good news." Harry said.

"Yes it is. More good news, the Old man is totally panicking. They finally figured out you were missing yesterday night at about two in the morning when Moody finally took a shift as guard. They spent most of the night checking everyplace you would go and when that turned up nothing they started checking with your friends. I give it a day or two before they send someone to Paris to check up on Hermione. At that point they will run into our cover story that you guys ran off to Germany. With any luck they'll take the bait and spend the next two months searching the German countryside before they figure out it's a wild goose chase. On a brighter note mum talked to Neville and Augusta Longbottom, Susan and Amelia Bones, and Luna and Odd Lovegood. Luna and her dad are preparing to mothball their house and offices. They plan to move here in a week with mum. Neville and Susan are going to work on Augusta and Amelia and try to get them to leave. Mum has a list of the other members of your study group from last year and she's going to start contacting them in the next few days." Dora said.

"That's great. Hopefully both sides get so wrapped up in their infighting they give everyone a chance to get out." Harry said.

"Yeah. We need to talk to Abby and have the goblins set up a flight for them. Mums going to put them all on a train to Paris, and I will get them on the plane to New York. I'll head out to Paris a few hours early to make sure they're not being followed." Dora said.

"I hope they all agree to leave. Tell Andy to push as hard as she can. If Neville's folks are a sticking point I'm sure we can get a few healers from here to go over there and secure a transfer for them. Money's no object. I'll throw however much cash we have to throw at this. Are we going to have enough room here for everyone if they all decide to come? Should we see if we can get a few more apartments in the building?" Harry asked.

"I think we'll be good for now. Worst case scenario we can turn a few of the sitting rooms in the bedroom suites into bedrooms. We'll just turn a few of the couches into a few beds. And besides, staying here might be temporary for them. They have money of their own and for the most part they can make it on their own with a little help from us. Amelia is fully capable of getting a job here and picking up where she left off. She's the only honest department head in a corrupt ministry. She's also the top cop in a dark country, and to top it all off she knows how to run a department on a shoestring budget. Odd can print is paper here, I'm sure people want to read about random creatures. The Longbottom fortune is just slightly smaller than your own." Dora said.

"Good point. But maybe we should think about finding these folks something to do in case they come over here and can't find something to do. You have to remember what the American mages think of our home land. They might not respect the fact that we have our OWLs. Technically, we're adults in the UK. But here we have a few years before our majority. Now I'm not worried about finding employment. But some of the people we bring over are not as well off as this first batch. We should pool a list of our skills and see what we can do. I'm sure with a small investment we can make a business that fits all of our skill sets." Harry said.

"All of our skill sets? Our, as in us too?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, I have a feeling I'll get bored if I don't find something to do. We also have to start training. We need to double down on the combat tactics. I want us to be ready when they come looking for us. The old man is not going to leave me or you alone, and if Tom kills the old man and wins his little war then he's going to come after me. I'd like to be ready for that. In the meantime, we need wands, clothes, I'd like to look at my cars and get the camaro out of the study, I'd also like to get the glamour off this watch, and I'd like to get a set of golf clubs so we can play. You have your clubs Dan or are we getting two sets." Harry asked.

"I left everything in a storage unit back home." Dan said.

"Then we need two sets of clubs and everything else we need." Harry said.

"Sounds good to me. We can start on the roof so you can practice your short game. Then we can find a driving range and work on your long game." Dan said.

"Sounds like a plan. We've got some time before Abby gets here, you want to go down to the garage and check out the cars?" Harry asked.

"You know I do." Dan said with a grin. The two men got on the elevator and took it to the lobby where they saw a tired looking Mike standing by the front door.

"Hey Mike, I'm shocked to see you. I thought you were the late shift guy?" Harry asked.

"I am, but I'm also head doorman, and Steve, the morning shift guy threw out his back real bad yesterday moving a couch. He went to see a healer but even with magic he's going to be out today. That means I take his shift. It's why they pay me the big bucks and I get the bigger apartment. Was there something I could help you with Mr. Steel?" Mike asked.

Yeah Mike, my holdings report said I have four cars parked in the garage. How do I get to the garage?" Harry asked.

"Just hit basement 2. Your cars are parked on the bottom floor. The keys are in them. I had our head garage guy Walter look them over. They seem to be in good working order. So Walter gave them a good washing. Real nice rides if a do say so myself Sir." Mike said.

"Thanks Mike." Harry said as they got back on the elevator. "Nice guy." Harry said as the brass doors closed and the old dark wood elevator took them to B2.

When they got off the elevator they found themselves in a big well light underground garage. Following the signs for the apartment numbers they found a corner in the back marked Penthouse. They saw the two cars they brought with them. Sitting next to them were three classic sports cars and a fourth car still under a cover. An old man in a work shirt and black slacks was wiping an old red convertible Ferrari with a soft rag. When he looked up at them approaching the car Harry got a Doc Brown vibe from the man. Odd but smart. He had long white gray hair and twinkling blue eyes.

"Can I help you?" He asked with a friendly smile as they walked up.

"Hi, Harry Steel. I moved into the family penthouse." Harry said not taking his eyes off the cars now that he was close enough to really see the lines.

"Walter Brown. Nice to meet you. Steel you say? Are you sure? You look like a Potter. I should know, I've been working here since the new garage opened." The old man said looking at Harry intently.

"Really? Then you knew the Potters?" Harry asked.

"Charles Potter hired me back in 1950 when he added the garage. I was ten, and they hired me to wash the cars." The old man said with a smile.

"Look Walter, can you keep a secret? I am a Potter. Harry Potter, Charles was my grandfather." Harry said smiling.

"I Knew It! I could always spot a Potter!" Walter said excitedly.

"You a wizard?" Harry asked.

"Squib. It's good to have a Potter in the building again. It's been so long." Walter said looking close to tears.

"Did you know my grandfather well?" Harry asked trying to change the subject.

"I sure did. He hired me in the summer of 1950. My father was head mechanic and we lived in an apartment on the first floor like the rest of the staff. My dad took care of the cars, and I kept them looking good. Over the years I learned everything from my dad and and Charles and I was bumped up to mechanic too. Charles was always down here or up in the apartment wrenching on his cars. At one point he had twenty cars down here. That was back in the 60's when there were a dozen Potters living in the building. Charles used to spend a good portion of the year here working on cars and spending time with his kids, but over the years his kids died and he took them up to the apartment and put them away. I think he had a hard time looking at them. Bad memories. When I heard about your grand parents murders it tore me up. They were good people your grandparents. Your father was a bit on the spoiled side but he was still a good kid." Walter said and Harry felt that awkward feeling whenever people talked about his parents deaths. He never knew what to say. What was he supposed to say?

"Well there's a Potter living here again and as you can see we're starting to add to the collection. Now what do we have here? We know next to nothing about cars." Dan said waving at the cars to take the attention off Harry

"Well this red one here is a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 N.A.R.T. Spider. It's one of only ten built." Walter said opening the door for Harry.

"It looks beautiful Walter." Harry said finding keys in the ignition. He turned the key and the sweet sounding engine turned over and fired right up. "Wow." Harry said as he revved the engine a few times before cutting it off. "How much is this car worth Walter? I have some places to go today and I might take it." Harry asked getting out of the little convertible.

"Well this car has almost no miles and it's in perfect condition. I'd say it's worth about 20 million dollars." Walter said and smiled when Harry and Dan looked shocked.

"I am definitely not taking that out any time soon. In fact I might put it in the vault. My god." Harry said walking over to a small white convertible. "What about this one?" Harry asked.

"That's your grandmother's favorite car. It's a 1955 BMW 507 Roadster. It's a sweet little ride. Very fast and nimble. You're grandmother was just as big of a speed freak as your grandfather. I'm sure there are still some unpaid speeding tickets in the glove box." Walter said letting Harry get in.

"I think I like this one better than the last one. It reminds me of my of your Aston Dan. How much is it worth?" Harry asked.

"About a million and a half dollars." Walter said laughing.

"Right." Harry said getting out nice and slow, and closing the door softly. "What about this one? Is it worth the price of a big house?" Harry asked looking at the third sports car.

"No, it's worth more than that. It's a 1954 Mercedes 300SL roadster. You're looking at a car that's worth twice, maybe three times, as much as the BMW." Walter said laughing.

"What about the car under the cover?" Dan asked laughing along with Walter at the fact that Harry had cars worth too much to drive. It was like being adrift in the ocean, water everywhere but none to drink.

"This is a 1970 Ferrari 365 Daytona convertible, in piano black with tan leather interior and top, also called the Sonny Crockett special." Walter said pulling the cover off the car.

"Holy siht it's the car from Miami Vice." Dan said feeling light headed.

"What's Miami Vice?" Harry asked causing Dan to look at him like he was crazy.

"Son, Miami Vice is the greatest tv show ever made! I can't believe you've never heard of it. But you know what? We are going to fix that. I'm sure we can get the DVDs from Amazon. Then you and me are going to sit in your big ass movie theater and watch all five seasons." Dan said looking close to tears as he sat behind the wheel of his dream car.

"Sounds fun. How much is this car worth?" Harry asked.

"A screen accurate Miami Vice Daytona? About a million dollars." Walter said laughing.

"Well shit, is there anything in this garage that I own that I can drive out of here without having a heart attack the first time someone looks at it wrong?" Harry asked.

"Well, James's car is parked over there." Walter said pointing behind him.

"James?" Harry asked with a lump in his throat.

"He would come here in the summer with his parents. They even gave him his own apartment on the ninth floor for the summer so he and his friends could have some freedom. We used to have a VW bug down here as well as a Vincent black shadow. His friends parked in this section." Walter said walking them over to a car under a cover.

"That would be Moony and Padfoot." Harry said.

"A bunch of hooligans coming and going all hours of the night speeding in the garage. But they were good kids. I didn't get a chance to clean this one yet but I did it last year so it should be fine to drive. All the cars are charmed to keep for a long time. It's why those four look like they do. Your grandfather was a real gear head. He made a whole bunch of spells and enchantments to keep his cars working no matter what. His log books are in the workshop upstairs." Walter said pulling the cover off a more modern black convertible Ferrari.

"What is it?" Harry asked softly as he fell in love with the shape and stance of the nimble looking sport scar. The car was so black and shiny it looked wet. It sat low on black five point rims and tires so wide it looked like the fenders were rolled out to fit better. The car had a tan leather interior and a black convertible top. The car was sexy.

"This is a 1995 Ferrari f355 spider. This was your dad's first and only car. He bought it in 97 when he was 17. He bought it used and spent every minute that he wasn't driving it fixing it. He bought a smashed Ferrari 355 challenge race car and swapped over the powertrain, suspension, exhaust, brakes, and tires. Then he spent weeks enchanting it to be lighter, stiffer, and stronger. You could run this car into a brick wall and hurt the wall. This was James's baby before he had you." Walter said opening the driver's side door for him.

Harry slipped in behind the wheel and sank into the soft leather bucket seats. He took a deep breath and smelled leather and armor all. He wrapped his left hand around the leather wrapped steering wheel and put his right hand on the stainless steel shift knob. Dan slipped into the passenger seat and they shared a grin. Dan nodded to the key in the igniting and Harry turned it. The car cranked over twice before the V8 fired up and roared to life in an angry scream.

Harry put on his seat belt and Dan followed his lead. Harry slipped the car into first gear and slowly idled out of the spot and up the ramp. At the top of the ramp the door opened and Harry slipped out into the sunlight. He checked to make sure he had some clear space before he punched it and was thrown back into his seat as the V8 barked and screamed propelling them to 50 mph and the top of the rev limit of first gear so fast that it scared and excited Harry. He backed off and cruised to a stop at the corner light and when the light changed he punched it, this time he shifted into second and made it up to 65 mph before he had to slow down for traffic.

"Dan, I think I'm in love with my dad's ex-girlfriend." Harry said with a smirk.

"I think I am too. The power of this car is crazy. I wonder how light it is. It feels like it weighs nothing. And the power. I bet this car would leave my little Aston in the dust." Dan said.

"I know it would, I've driven both. Which is something you have to do. You have to feel how smooth and fast the power hit you." Harry said pulling over and getting out. They switched seats and Dan blasted out of the parking spot so fast he scared himself too.

"My God!" Dad said taking a right at the corner and keeping his foot down. He wasn't going fast but the car cornered so flat it tossed them both around in their seats.

"I know right?" Harry said laughing.

"Harry, I'll trade you for my Aston." Dan said with a knowing smile.

"Can't do it Dan. Not for all the gold in the world." Harry said grinning from ear to ear.

"I don't blame you. It's a sweet ride. I wonder if we can lighten my car and make it feel like this." Dan said pulling around to the side of the building and the big steel door opened letting them back into the garage.

"That being said I'll let you drive any car I own just like you let me drive your Aston. I've driven your car more then you have. Today you should take the Daytona." Harry said as they coasted back to the bottom of the garage.

"Thank's son, but I think I'll go with Dora so we don't have to take three cars. Maybe later though. I've always wanted to drive that car. We have to watch the show." Dan said as he pulled the car into it's spot and they both got out.

"So I take it you'll be daily driving the 355?" Walter asked with a knowing grin.

"Yes. There is also a black Camaro convertible upstairs in the apartment. That will be a second car for when we need more than two seats. There is also a vault full of cars I have no idea what any of them are. Plus the dark gray Boss 429 Mustang sitting half built in the study. Would you be willing to help us fix it and put it back together?" Harry asked.

"I'd love to, Charles would have me up to the apartment all the time to help him wrench on cars. We'd have beers and talk about girls and cars. I have so many stories I can tell you about Charles. I'd be happy to come up and talk as we wrenched on cars." Walter said.

"I'd like that very much Walter. We're going to be busy for the next few days but we should schedule something for the weekend." Harry said holding out his hand.

"Sounds good to me. I can also help you inventory the cars in the vault. I've probably wrenched on most of them over the years." Walter said.

"Great. Come on Dan let's head back up before the girls figure out we've been missing too long." Harry said leading Dad to the elevators.

Dan saw the buzz in the younger man. It was like he found a new level or something. There a was confidence to his posture, and an air of magic that pulsed around the boy. This was not the same boy he helped shave just an hour and a half ago. This was a young man that knew something. Dan smirked, and patted the young man on the back as the doors opened in front of the penthouse. They walked in and saw Abby standing in the formal sitting room, as the women of the house gathered their bags and things. She smiled when she saw him and handed him the backpack back.

"I have your cash. The goblins had to scramble to gather that much currency." Abby said.

"I hope I didn't put them out. I just knew I couldn't spend old bills like that." Harry said looking in the bag and seeing the stacks of new hundred dollar bills. He opened the bag further to show Dan who looked shocked.

"Is that bag full?" Dan asked stunned.

"It is, this was my granddads ready funds. I'll be back in a minute." Harry said jogging to his room.

He dumped some of the stacks out of the bag on his bed and grabbed the empty metal briefcase. He put a million dollars in the case and put the rest back in the bag. He dumped the bag in the safe and grabbed five packs of 500 Euro notes and tossed them in the case. Lastly he stuffed his small bag of a thousand galleons in the case and closed it. He fed the case into his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulders. When he got to the sitting room he found the rest of the group waiting for him.

"Sorry, I had to grab some of the cash and put the rest away." Harry said waving them out the front door. He closed and locked it behind him and they headed down to the garage.

"Back so soon?" Walter asked.

"We're headed out for the day. Who's riding with me?" Harry asked dropping into his new car.

"I am. The rest of the adults can take Dora's car." Hermione said slipping in next to him.

"Sounds good to me. Everyone in." Dora called out. They piled into her car and she led Harry out of the garage with Abby telling her where to go.

"This is a nice car Harry." She said loving the feel of acceleration every time he hit the gas.

"It was my dad's car." Harry went on to tell her what Walter told him about the cars, his grandfather and father, and their love of cars.

"So we found your new daily driver?" Hermione asked.

"I think so. I mean, it's totally impractical, it has no room for anything, it barely fits two people, and it gets worse gas mileage than your dad's car. But, I'm in love?" Harry said with a shrug and a smile.

"Well I love it too. Can I drive next or is it a monogamous relationship you two are having?" She asked laughing at how taken he was with the car.

"No, you can drive her. I want you to. I've already let your dad drive her a bit." Harry said as Abby waved for them to pull over in front of a small jewelry store. When they walked up to the door Harry got a good look at the name.

"Wandsmith's Jewelers? A bit on the nose don't you think?" Harry asked as they walked in.

"Actually very few people know we sell wands." The little old Hasidic Jewish man behind the counter said with a wise old smile.

"It's good to see you David, it's been months. My grandfather said that you and Nancy should come over for dinner." Abby said stepping up to the counter and hugging the old man.

"I will tell Nancy and I will call Geno. But first I think we have people that need wands. Abby can you please flip the sign and lock the door, everyone else follow me into the workshop." David said coming around the glass cases full of jewelry and leading them through a back door and into another store all together. This store reminded him of Ollivanders. There were wand boxes on shelves that went back into the darkness of the store. He went behind the counter and got out a tape measure, a flight of glowing bottles on a well used wood tray, and a gold rod.

"First of all, is anyone getting a wand for the first time?" David asked looking at the group.

"My mother is. We tested her and she scored a 75 on the mage scale but she never got her letter." Hermione said.

"You are from Britain?" He asked with a sad smile.

"Yes. Do they not give out letters to anyone under a certain level?" Hermione asked.

"Yes and no. They do not give out letters to first generation mages unless they make the power threshold of 100. How ever if you are pureblood?" David said with a shrug and a disgusted wave of his hand.

"Those bastards!" Hermione said looking furious.

"I like this one. Very fiery. We will handle your mother's fitting last. It will take the longest." David said with his wise grandfatherly smile.

David reminding Harry of Master Yoda. He was a wizened old man with years of wisdom seeping out of every pore but there was a mischievous humor about him. Harry didn't know if the old man was going to explain the hidden meaning of magic or tell a fart joke. This was the facade dumbledore tried to project. But were the headmaster came off as crazy and foolish David Wandsmith was a man that knew what he was doing.

"Now who is getting fit for a second wand?" He asked and three hands shot up.

"Very good. How long was your first wand fitting dear? And how many wands did you go through before you found your match?" David asked Hermione.

"About 15 minutes and it took something like 10 wands." Hermione said.

"Very good, and you young lady?" He asked Dora.

"Um, I think it took about 20 minutes and about 15 wands." Dora said.

"Good, and you young man?" He asked Harry.

"Over an hour, and I lost track of the amount of wands I waved before I matched my wand." Harry said.

"Ah, good you will go first. Stand still with your arms out at your sides." David said tapping the tape measure with his well used, beat up, light wood wand. The tape measure shot around his body for a few seconds before it stopped and dropped to the counter top. David wrote something on a notepad.

"Now if you will take this rod in your wand hand and give it a swish and flick?" David asked handing the gold rod to Harry who in turn swished and flicked sending black and gold sparks out the front of the rod. David took the rod back and studied it for a few seconds before writing something down on the notepad.

"And finally will you hover your hand over these glass bottles one at a time for a few seconds." David said pushing the wood tray with eight glass bottles forwards. Harry passed his hand over the bottles and they all light up causing David to hum and nod.

"What's that mean?" Harry asked.

"Tell me, have you recently had a block on your core removed?" David asked.

"I don't think so. I did have a curse lifted from my soul." Harry amended.

"Ah, do you know your mage scale number?" David asked.

"195, or it was when we got tested in first year." Harry said.

"Well I need to test you again. Do you mind?" David asked.

"No, go right ahead." Harry said standing still as David cast the spell at him. The number 305 floated above Harry's head. Hermione and Dora both gasped and Dan and Emma looked confused.

"What's my number? Did I go up?" Harry asked.

"You are a 305 now. That is in the arch mage level. You will not be able to use a wood wand. You are going to need a gold wand. Have you tried casting wandless?" David asked.

"No." Harry said, then he shrugged and held out his right hand he looked at it for a few seconds and a ball of light faded into place above his hand. "Hah, would you look at that. It took a lot of effort though. Can I still get a wand?" Harry asked.

"Yes. I will have to make it, it will take me a day or so, you will have to come back for it. What was your last wand?" David asked.

"My last wand was an 11 inch holly and phoenix tail feather." Harry said.

"Well when I've gotten the rest of them sorted out me and you will need to have a small talk and I'm going to ask you for some blood. Now, you're next. Let's keep this going. Stand up nice and straight with you hands at your sides." David said.

"Wait! I'm a metamorph. Do I need to change back into my real form?" Dora asked.

"Yes. The match wouldn't be right if you don't change back." David said shaking his head with a smile.

Dora sighed, closed her eyes, and they watched as her body shifted. She got shorter by a few inches, her shoulders got broader, her chest and hip got lagers. So much so that her jeans, shirt, and bra looked painfully tight. Her hair turned cold black and her eyes shifted from blue to violet bordering on red. Her nose got longer and her face got more angular. She looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

"I hate this face." She muttered bitterly in a voice that was higher and colder. It was that voice that triggered Harry's memory. She looked like her aunt Bellatrix. Harry hugged her hard.

"You might look like her but you are ten times the witch she is. No matter what you look like you will always be my big sister." Harry said soft enough so that only she could hear him. When he pulled back from her she had tears in her eyes.

"Thanks Harry. Okay, I'm ready." Dora said. It took a few minutes to run through the three step process. Only one of the bottles glowed for her.

"Tell me what your last wand was." David asked.

"11.5 inches, ebony, and dragon heartstring. Really stiff, good for transfiguration." She said.

"Well, the good news is you have not changed much from your last wand fitting. You are still suited to Ebony and dragon heartstring. But I got a length of 12 inches. We will try wands made from ebony and heartstring in the 11.5 to 12 inch range and see if we can find you a match." David sad waving his wand and ten wand boxes floated over and landed on the counter.

"Let's begin with a 12 inch." David said with a smile.

It took only three wands to find a match. 11.75 inches, ebony, and the heart string from a Mexican orange dragon. It had the potential for dark magic but would work good for combat spells. Dora shifted back to the tall thin blond form she had adopted since they left the island and sighed.

"That will be $1,200." David said.

"I'll be taking care of the cost for everyone. Keep a running total." Harry said pulling the briefcase out of his bag and setting it on the counter.

"Very good. Now it's your turn." David said and Hermione stood tall and put out her arms without being told. Two bottles light up for her.

"What was your last wand?" David asked.

"10.75 inches, vine wood, and dragon heartstring. Stiff handle but flexible shaft. Good for charms and transfiguration." Hermione said.

"You have also not changed much from your last fitting. Vine wood still suits you, but we have two choices for a cores. Dragon heartstring and thunderbird tail feather. 10.75 inches is a good length for you. We will test 10.75 inch vine wood wands with both cores." David said and ten boxes came floating out of the stacks to the counter. It took six wands to find a match.

"10.75 inches, vine wood, and thunderbird tailfeather. Very powerful combination. That will be $1,400. Now, onto our first timer. You know the drill. Arms out." David said and Emma followed through the process.

"You are suited to walnut, vine wood, and black walnut. You also match with Dragon heartstring and phoenix tailfeather. Length will be on the shorter side 9 to 10 inches. This is going to take a while. But don't lose heart. We have 37 wands to look at." David said waving his wand and the boxes came flying in. It took 22 wands to find a match. By the time she got a reaction Emma's arm was tired from all the waving around.

"Very good match. 9.5 inches, Black Walnut, and a phoenix tailfeather. It's a powerful wand but it will be hard for you to master spells at first. But as you gain control of your magic you will be a powerhouse. That combination of wood and core would never match a weak mage no matter what your number is. Your number has more to do with stamina then power. You will be able to cast upper level spells, but not all day. The wand costs $1,800 by the way." David said grinning at Emma's excitement.

"And with that wand we have a subtotal of $4,400." David said and Harry opened his case shocking his family. Harry pulled a stack of hundreds off the top and counted out 44 bills and handed them over to David.

"Here you go. I would also like four wand holsters and cleaning kits." Harry pointing to the kits and the holsters on the shelf behind the counter and setting another two hundred dollar bills on the counter.

"Here you go, now we need to draw some blood and find your core so I can start making your wand." David said putting the three empty wand boxes into a shopping bag along with the cleaning kit. He handed them the wand holders and Dora showed Emma how to attach it to her forearm. When she slid her wand into the holder it vanished from sight.

In the end it took another hour for Harry to find his cores, plural, he needed three, a dragon heart string from a Mexican Orange, a Basilisk heart string, and a phoenix tail feather. All three would do into a hollowed out gold wand shaft and suspended in his blood. He also needed focusing gems in the form of six one carat round cut emeralds inlaid in the handle do to his power levels. All together it was going to cost $15,000 in raw magical ingredients. on top of that it was going to cost $1,500 worth of gold and because of the power of the cores and how hard it was to craft the cost of labor was going to be high and take one to two days. Harry put a down payment of $10,000, and they headed out for their next appointment. Which was located in Midtown.

They pulled up to Macy's and the Valet took their two cars. They were met by a team of personal shoppers and lead into the big department store. They were lead to two separate private fitting rooms, one for the men and one for the women. They were placed in chairs and handed drinks, Mimosas for the women and cappuccinos for the men. What followed was a whirlwind of clothes, shoes, fragrances, and makeup. Every few minutes personal shoppers would walk into the room with arm loads of things.

They all tried on dozens of articles of clothes and shoes. As they found things they liked the items were taken out of the room and boxed up, the boxes were shrank down to the size of matchboxes, and stacked in a single gift box. The items they didn't like were hung on a clothes rack and when the rack was full it was wheeled out of the room and a new empty rack was brought in. It took just under two hours for the men and more than three hours for the women.

For his part, Harry stuck with things he liked from the stuff Dora bought him for the trip. Jeans, button up shirts, track suits, athletic t-shirts, on Dan's insistence he got a few pairs of loose breathable slacks and golf shirts. He got everything a few sizes bigger than what he needed because he hoped he would grow into them in the next week. He was going to pick out a few more modern suits and fancy clothes but Abby waved him off. She had a tailor for that. The same with shoes aside from trainers. So they stuck with casual clothes.

Still in the end they had most of a full wardrobe. Harry paid a staggering amount of money for his and Dan's purchases and they headed to the sporting goods section while the girls finished their shopping. By the time the girls were ready to go Dan and Harry had two new golf bags filled with more than what they needed to play. They also bought a gym mats, weight bench, weights, dumbbells and kettlebells.

They collected the girls and headed off to lunch at a nice Italian place Abby took them to in Little Italy. They were all riding the high that comes with shopping and lunch was a good chance to bask in the afterglow of spending large sums of money. After lunch they split up with the Harry and Dan heading to a Taylor Abby gave them the address to in Little Italy, and the girls headed to a salon. By the time Harry pulled into a parking spot across the street from the little shop they saw Abby walk out of a door in the side of the building. She beat them to the shop by just a matter of seconds.

"You made good time. I was just giving Dora directions to the salon. You made it ten blocks in like three minutes." Abby said.

"I love my car." Harry said.

"I see that." Abby said laughing as she lead the guys into the small dimly light shop. Walking into the shop was like taking a step through a portal into the gas lap era which made Harry smile.

The shop was dark and very manly with it's dark green wallpaper and dark wood floors and display cases. Almost everything in the shop was made of dark wood and dark green leather. The few things that were metal in the shop were made of shiny brass, and even though it was midday outside it was bar room dark with most of the light coming from the bright display cases. There were just a few racks of suits on one side of the small shop and shirts and ties in the light cases on the other side.

Sitting behind the counter was a short older gentleman reading the newspaper in a very nice three piece gray suit that looked both old and very classy. The man had jet black hair except for the sides of his head which were bright white, and it was slicked back. He looked like an old Gangster from an old 20's gangster movie. Abby walked up to the counter and smiled a huge smile. When the old man looked up his face split into a wide smile to match. "Little Bambina!" He said practically leaping over the counter to hug her.

"Granddad." She said smiling like a little girl.

Stepping up to the two of them Harry stuck out his hand for a confident handshake. "Harry Steel and this is Dan Granger, You have a great shop here. Very warm and manly. I love the feel of it. It reminds me of my apartment." Harry said letting Dan shake the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Steel, Mr. Granger. I'm Geno Rossetti. It's nice to meet you. Abby doesn't bring just anyone to see me. So that means she likes you. What can I get for you. Abigail said you both needed a few suits, shirts, slacks and the like." The old man said leading Harry and Dan through a big wood door at the back of the shop and into a huge room sectioned off into two sections.

The first section was a big dressing room with chairs and a work table with cloth cuttings and big spindles of thread. It was what you expected to be in the back of a tailor's shop. The other section however, was a huge warehouse that looked like it went back a few hundred feet with racks of suits and shirt and who knows what on the left side and shelves full of bolts of cloth on the right.

"Wow." Dan said and Harry laughed.

"Magic, it never gets old." Harry said.

"Yes I'm quite proud of my shop." Geno said making Harry and Dan take off their shoes and stand on a pair of step stools.

"Well I have a closet full of suits from my grandfather. They all look nice and l'd like to wear them but they are a bit old and outdated. I know next to nothing about fashion but I can tell they are an older cut and style. The pants have pleats and they look baggy. What I want is about a half dozen nice modern suits and some comfortable slacks and shirts I can mix and match to some of my grandfather's jackets and vests." Harry said.

"And I need some suits, shirts, slacks, and ties." Dan said.

"I can work with that information. Now if you will just stand still this will take just a minute." He said pulling out an old well worn wand and waved it at a measuring tape which came to life and shot around their bodies making quick measurements. While the tape measure worked Geno pulled a rolling a rack over with different suits.

"Man does this feel weird." Dan said as the tape wrapped around his neck to get his collar size.

"You get used to it." Harry said.

Geno waved at the tape and it landed on his worktable. He took down the measurements and needed. He waved at the rack of suits and half of them vanished only to be replaced with different suits. He looked at the rack and pulled a dark blue three piece suit of the rack and handed it to Harry. He then grabbed a similar suite in a slate gray and handed it to Dan.

"What is this material? It's really nice." Harry asked all but petting the suit.

"Three strand high twist wool, it's soft and breathable, and it resists wrinkles. It's not too hot out yet but soon it's going to get hot and this suit wears well with or without the vest. High twist wool can be worn year round and it travels well. Not that it matters, those suits are charmed to not wrinkle, resist water and stains, keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Put them on and we'll see where we are. What do you do both do for work?" Geno asked handing Harry and Dan soft cotton white shirt button up shirts.

"Nothing right now. We just got here to the U.S. and we don't have anything lined up yet." Harry said as they stripped to their boxers and pulled on the suits.

"I'm a dental surgeon, but like Harry said we are taking time to relax. We need clothes to go to dinner, go to the theater, attend gatherings and the like." Dan said.

"Yes those fits good, we just need to make a few adjustments." Geno said waving his wand. The pants legs shortened and the jacket pulled in tighter under their arms.

"Yes this looks good." Geno said holding up a blue tie in one hand and a dark gray tie in the other.

"This feels very nice. Do you have anything on the casual side? A few pairs of comfortable slacks in this material? Also, I'm taking potions to correct a growth issue, I plan on being way bigger than I am now. Can I come back for alterations?" Harry asked.

"No need, every suit I sell is cut ten inches bigger in the shoulders, six inches longer in the legs, and six inches wider in the pants. The spells I just cast activate the self tailoring enchantments. In essence the suit will grow with you every time you put it on. I think we will stick to the high twist wool for you both. It sits well on both of your frames and it's easy to wear." Geno said.

"I agree, I've never looked this good. We'll take six suits, some slacks, shirts and anything else you think we might need." Harry said looking in the three sided mirror.

Geno nodded he waved his wand and the rack that was full of suits and shirts was now full of slacks and casual button up shirts in classic colors. "I will pull a few and box them up for you. Do you have a color preference?" Geno asked.

"I'm partial to dark blues and black. But I'll wear anything that won't make me stand out like a sore thumb." Harry said.

"I like gray tones and blues." Dan said loving the fit of his new suit. He never had a suit fit this well.

"Good to know. I'll start a rack for both of you. On that wall is different styles of shoes, try them on to find the ones you like. Then take off the suits and I will box them up for you then we will pick a few more colors and try them." Geno said waving Harry and Dan away as he thumbed through the rack muttering to himself.

Dan walked over to the wall of shoes and found a pair of black leather oxfords he like. He saw Harry grab a pair of the same shoes if dark brown. Dan looked for his size and didn't see sizes, he just saw boxes with copies of the same shoes. Harry sat at the bench and pulled on his pair of brown shoes and walked around with a big smile.

"Harry, how do I find my size?" Dan asked.

"You don't, one size fits all. It's magic Dan. Pull the shoe on and it will form to your foot. Man are these nice shoes. We're going to need a few pairs of these. Geno has a good cobbler. Not even magical shoes fit this well and feel this good." Harry said grabbing a few more boxes of shoes off the shelf and setting them on the bench. Dan pulled on his shoes and felt funny as the shoe formed to his foot, but when he stood up and walked around he was in heaven.

"Oh man these feel good." Dan said.

"Welcome to the magical world of magic. He does golf spikes, and tennis shoes to. Look at these black leather converse." Harry said.

"Harry these shoes are so comfortable that my leg doesn't hurt so much when I step down." Dan said.

"We really need to get you to a healer to fix that leg." Harry said putting a few more boxes on the bench.

An hour later and Harry and Dan walked out of Geno's shop with two shopping bag full of shrunken suit bags and boxes. Abby handed them a card with the address for an electronic's store that catered to mages before she popped away. Harry and Dan took a drive up town to the shop and after a half hour they were loading another shopping bag into the very small trunk in Harry's Ferrari. This bag was full of shrunken boxes with ten 72" big screen 3D TVs, a dozen blu ray players, an Xbox ONE, a Playstation 4, and a professional quality movie projector for the movie room. They also each had a shrunken box in their messenger bags full of Blu rays, DVDs, and games. By the time the boys met up with the girls at the salon Harry's case was significantly lighter than it was when he first left the house.

They got back to the apartment just before five. By the time they put away all their purchases it was time to sit down to dinner. After that Dan and Harry spent time going from room to room setting up the new TVs and Blu ray players with Dora's help Harry would hold the bracket up, Dan made sure it was level, and Dora stuck it to the wall with a spell. When all the brackets were stuck to the wall Harry and Dan went around and bolted them in place. Then they hung up the TVs and wired them up before dragging the old tube TVs out into the hall so Dora could shrink them and take them to the trash area off the kitchen where the service elevator was.

While the guys were doing that, Hermione was teaching her mum how to cast first year spells in the library. She spent a half hour working on wand movements and the theory of pushing your magic to power a spell. Then she broke out a first year textbook she found in the library and had her mom work on the lumos spell. It took a few dozen tries to get it to work but once she got it the tip of her wand glowed bright enough to hurt their eyes. What David Wandsmith said was true. It would take her mum a few tries to get her magic to work with the wand but once she got it her wand would add power to the spell. By the time the boys were done setting up all the TVs Emma could make light, float a feather, and make a small ball of fire. Hermione was very impressed by her mum. But Emma practically glowed with excitement. She could cast magic. It was at this point that she knew she could never go back to fixing teeth. She would spend the rest of her life mastering magic in all it's forms.

"You are progressing very fast Mum. At this rate in a few months you'll be up to my level. Now how do you feel?" Hermione asked casting the power level spell on her mum. It read 64. She did the math in her head. Her mum burned through about ten units of power to cast about 30 low level spells. Not bad at all.

"I feel great! I could go for another two hours. What's the next spell?" Emma asked.

"We're not going to learn any other spells tonight. What we're going to learn next is sustained casting. Holding a spell for a long time. I want to see what the drain on your core looks like under heavy use and it's also important to know how to hold a spell. It should become second nature to you after a few days. For now I want you to hold this pencil in the air for as long as you can. I'm going to time you with my watch. We'll try for a minute. Then we'll push for more time and weight. This is going to be the last thing you do every night. The point of this exercise is two fold. One, is to build up your concentration and stamina, and two, we're going to try to drain you so that you rebound with more power then you had today. This works for kids, I don't know if it works the same for adults." Hermione said.

"So if I do this every night I can have more magic? Can your father do this and get magic?" Emma asked.

"No, Mum. Unfortunately, dad will always be a squib. He's a high squib in the upper forties, but he can never make the jump to casting spell. The threshold for casting may be fifty but to really connect with a wand and cast spells he would need to be a mid sixty. The good news is Dad is going to live a good long time. Even if he picks up most of the bad habits he's talking about. The fact that he's fit, and has access to a healer means he'll live to 110 easy, you will outlive him by about ten years give or take." Hermione said.

"Really? That old?" Emma asked.

"Easy Mum, there are potions that you can take to extend that number, like vitamins, and healing tonics, but most healthy squibs live as long as low level mages. The average life expectancy for a low level mage is about 110-120. Mid range mages live to about 130-140. High level mages where I am can probably make it to 150 before I'm too old to do much beside sit on a porch somewhere." Hermione said.

"What about Harry? The wand maker said he's an Arch Mage." Emma asked.

"Yeah, low level mages are 50-100 power units. Mid range 101-150. High range is 151-225. I'm a 195 on a good day. Our friend Neville is a powerhouse at 220 but he has control issues. Harry used to be a 205 with full access to his potential. He could cast for days the highest level battle magic and push power into all of his spells. Harry is truly amazing to watch. But now with his connection to the dark lord severed he's on the arch mage level. Anything over 225. The fact that he's a 305 is crazy. Merlin was in the upper three hundreds. Arch mages can live almost forever. Their magic keeps building and rebuilding their bodies. Harry's going to look 25 until he's 40 and 35 until he 60. That's probably where he'll stop aging for a hundred or so years. It's hard to tell really how long he could live. Arch mages tend to die with their mates or children. Their magic gets unstable with age and they can just up and die when they feel like it. Harry's a blood line relative to Godric Gryffindor who died of a broken heart when his wife died." Hermione said.

"That's so romantic." Emma said.

"It is. Arch mages are well documented. I've read a few accounts of arch mages. Their stories make for good reading. They all tend to do great things. Good or bad." Hermione said.

"So Harry will live as long as you?" Emma asked.

"No, I'll make him look after our kids. Potters, Gryffindor's, Myrddin, they all died off fighting evil. Stupid heroes the lot of them. I'm going to make sure he makes it to a ripe old age and fills the world with Potters and Steels. Then I'm going to make him promise to look after them. He's noble, he'll do it." Hermione said blushing. Her mother hugged her.

"I think it's cute you're planning that far into the future dear." Emma said with a smile.

"I've been planning this far into the future since I met that boy." Hermione said.

"Dan and I approve wholeheartedly in your choice of life partner." Emma said.

"Good, now, let's get back to work. Lift the pencil on my say." Hermione said holding up her watch.

When they were done installing the last TV in Harry's room they set up the weight bench in the corner of the garage in the study. When they were done with that they grabbed a drink and a Cuban cigar from the other side of the study and looked at all the guns in cases.

"Harry this collection is amazing." Dan said looking at the racks of custom built hunting rifles and shotguns.

But Harry was busy looking at the small display cases in the room. Each one was dedicated to a war and in it were the guns, and things carried by the Potters that fought in them. They also had a brass plaque with the names, births and deaths of every Potter that fought and died in the war. By his count there were ten cases going back to the Seven Years War, in which 45 potters fought and died all around the world. To the American Revolution which claimed the lives of 40 Potters fighting on both sides of the war. The Napoleonic wars. The War of 1812. The American Civil war. The Spanish American war. World War I. World War II. The Korean War. The last case was from the Vietnam War.

Harry was struck by something he knew but didn't understand. The Potters had always been wealthy Mages, but when the time came to fight the good fight they put down their lives of leisure and took up arms alongside their Muggle brothers. They fought, and they died the muggle way. Every case got progressively smaller then the last one. Each case listed less Potter's fighting and dying in the wars, not because they stopped answering the call, but because there were less of them to answer the call when the time came. The last case had five names. The last Potter to die in the Vietnam war was Harold William Potter. Born 7/3/1955 KIA 7/24/1974.

Harold Potter was his Namesake, his dad's older brother, who was the last Potter to die in a muggle war. But he was not the last Potter to die in a war. Harold James Potter was the last Potter to die in a war. The second war against The Dark Lord Voldemort. And with his death the Name Potter died with it. Harry knew that he would add another case to the room.

This case would have all the names of the Potters that died in the first war with Voldemort. He would put his old wand in the case and with it he would display his shame in ending his family line. At least these Potters got to die on a battlefield with honor. Harry Potter died with the swish of a quill and the help of two healers. He knew deep down that he was being crazy. He knew this sudden guilt was all in his head. But he still felt it in his heart. He was so quick to throw away his name, cast it off like his old ragged clothes. Now he felt sick. He was glad he was not a Potter any more. Potter's died on their feet. He didn't notice Dan standing with him until the older man put his arm around him.

"What's the matter son?" Dan asked.

"Potters die on their feet. I kill Harry Potter with paperwork." Harry said in a voice thick with emotion.

"Yes. But you did it to help end a war. A war you were the only one fighting until a month ago when you lead a group of school children into combat and you all lived to tell the tale. Son, I look around this room and I see shrines to men that died fighting in wars. But you're barely a man and you have years of fighting a war under your belt. And you did not Kill off Harry Potter. You filled out some paperwork to get out of an illegal marriage. Harry Potter is not dead. He's standing right here. You're not done being Harry Potter until you close the book on this war back home. My daughter told us that at some point you're going to go back to the UK and fight this war to the last man. Is that true?" Dan asked.

"Yes. She knows me too well. A big part of me wants to say Fuck Um. It's their mess they can clean it up. But I know in the end I'll go back. Even if it's just to finish off the old man or Tom." Harry said.

"Well, there you go! You're out. You're free and clear. There is no need to volunteer to go across the pond and fight a war. But you're going to anyways. And do you know why?" Dan asked.

"Because I'm a fool." Harry said with a sad grin.

"That's right, you're a god damned noble fool just like the rest of these men. Because even though your driver's license says Steel, you're still a fucking Potter. And from what I can see from this room. Fighting in wars you didn't have to fight is a Potter family tradition. I can tell you this much, you're not going back alone, and you're not going back unprepared. Now stop your moping. Me and you are going to head down the hall to the shooting range. We're going to practice your shooting. Because bullets kill wizard just as well as they kill normal people. If they didn't then there would be more Potters alive today." Dan said leading the younger man out of the room and down the hall to the shooting range.

"Thanks Dan. I needed to hear that." Harry said.

"It's like I said before, you're too damn noble for your own good. Now you have two 150 round mags for your sidearm. This crate has 9mm ammo in it. I want you to come in here every night and put a full 150 down range. We'll start with you just standing there shooting for now but soon we're going to have you shoot on the move. I have a whole bunch of shooting drills I can run you through and once you have pistol down we're going to move on to the MP5. By the time you decide you have to go back you'll be the most deadly wizard who ever lived. We'll also start conditioning your body as well. You're skinny and wiry. You should be able to run twenty miles with a full pack without dying. Tomorrow morning me and you are going to start the morning off with a good run and a weight training session. Then we'll play 18 holes of mini golf, and swim laps in the pool." Dan said.

"Whatever it takes. Harry Potter is a casualty of the war, but Harry Steel is going to have a long life. Whatever it take to make it out the other side I want to do it. When the rest of the group gets here I want them to do it too. They are all noble fools like me. I'm not leading school children into battle again." Harry said.

"You got a deal. In fact I'll join you." Dan said.

"Good, we could use a man to help get us in shape." Harry said.

That was not what Dan meant, but he figured why confuse the boy. At that moment Dan made a decision. He was going to let his daughter fix his leg, and he was going to get back into shape. And he was going to fight a war. He just hoped they had time to train. He would have to keep Harry distracted long enough to get them all ready. With the body armor, guns, and training he was sure it would be easy to handle a wizard war. He wondered if he could get in touch with his old friends from back in the service. The retired and injured ones. How much would it take to hire a few of them? Most of them would do it for free if magic could heal their old war wounds. He'd have to talk to his daughter about that.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I've gotten a few reviews and PM's about the "Gun and Car Porn" as they like to call it, and how it's ruining the story. This story follows the Investigator Harry Steel universe and has the same feel. I am the type of person that hates when a writer throws something into a story and you can tell they have zero idea what that something is and what it does. I'm a strong believer in the idea of knowing what something is and being able to explain it. if you say Harry pulls out a gun and shoots someone it's a very open ended statement. was it a handgun? a rifle? shotgun? was it a half plastic Glock or a shiny chrome 1911? details add to the story and they matter. it's the same thing as a writer adding two paragraphs describing the look of Hermione's dress at the Yule Ball. both descriptions are important.

Also the story is called Fighting Back the Muggle Way, the title implies guns and cars. if you think this is going to be some whimsical magical story about how love and magic save the storybook land that is the UK magical world then this is not the story for you. when the action hit in two chapters, bullets will fly and people with die.

also, this story takes place Now in 2015 as i stated in the summery and the first chapter. that means Harry was born in 2000. His parents went to school in the 1990's. i did this for a few reasons, i wanted the world outside of the magical UK to have smart phones and high speed internet to really highlight just how backwards the UK magicals are. i also don't want to do a bunch of math to figure out what something cost in 1995 and figure out what movie was playing when or things like that because as you can see their are people that will take the time to point out when you get that shit wrong even when you didn't. they'll take time to remind you that smart phones were invented in the early 2000's and when Emma Stone was born to prove they couldn't figure out this story takes place now and not in the 90's. this is also the reason i fact check everything and add it t the story. because if i didn't add the rate of fire for the MP5k some one will tell me about it.

Lastly, the story take place, for the most part, from Harry's perspective. aside from the first chapter, which acts as a prolog to the story, pretty much the whole story follows harry. not the people back in the UK. not the Headmaster. not the order. you get Harry's story with a few very short scenes not witnessed by Harry thrown in to give the reader information. also there is a point to all of this day to day BS in these first half dozen chapters. each scene has some kind of relevance to the rest of the story even if it's to just show Harry growing as a person. it all adds up. there are very few wasted paragraphs in this story. trust me i'm working on chapter 12 right now and facts from chapters 4-7 are very important.

The first week in America flew by for Harry in a blur of activities and monumental events. The week started with the blur of activities that was Tuesday's shopping spree but the week only got busier after that as Harry fell into a routine that started with Wednesday morning when, true to his word, Dan got Harry up at half past six. He tossed the boy a pair of running shorts and a athletic shirt. He ignored the fact that his daughter was in the bed next to the boy, or the fact that said boy had his hand on his little girl's boob. Thankfully he didn't see anything a father shouldn't see thanks to the blanket. He was also happy to see the boy slip out of bed in the jeans he had on the night before. Dan left the room to let Harry get dressed. When Harry came out Dan could see he had his dragon hide vest on and he was pulling on his gun rig. Dan nodded his approval and handed Harry a towel and a small cooler.

"I see you have your vest and gun on. You should always have them on. I'm ashamed to say I left mine in my room. Now today I figured we'd start the day off with a nice slow run around the running track on the roof, then we're going to do a bit of PT, then we'll hit the weights before we hit the showers. Today I want to run you through the mini golf course a few times so we can get out on a real course in a few days. After that we have to set up the projector in the movie room. After that we'll be free after lunch. I wanted to talk to my daughter about fixing my leg. Is it really bad?" Dan asked as they headed up the stair to the roof.

"To have your bones regrown? It's the worst. I honestly think we should have Abby set you up with a real healer and see if there's a better solution to Skeel-e-grow. I'm not saying Hermione isn't the smartest mage I know. I'm just saying when it comes to the field of healing. A licensed healer might be your best bet. They might be able to cut your leg open, pull the pins, heal the bones and scar tissue, and seal you back up. I'd rather they did that to my leg without pain potion then to go through Skeel-e-grow again. It feels like bug crawling inside your limb eating away at your flesh from the inside. Besides I'd like to have a healer give me the once over now that I've been taking those two potions for four days. It might be a good idea for all of us to get a check up. If the UK is substandard then we should get a second opinion." Harry said as they stretched and warmed up for their run.

"Yeah. That's a good idea. Abby said we should call her if we ever need anything." Dan said leading Harry on a nice slow run around the 1,000 foot track.

"And I think we need tickets to see a quidditch match I'm sure there's a match tonight. Even if we have to fly to a nearby state. I want to train hard and play hard. We need to get into that country club so we can set up a tee time soon." Harry said easily keeping pace with the older man.

"We'll call her after breakfast. Now get a few laps in at a real pace." Dan said waving Harry on. The kid didn't need to be told twice and he took off. Ten minutes later the kid came blasting by Dan like he was standing still. Dan picked up his pace only to be passed again about ten minutes later.

"How many times did you go around?" Dan called out.

"Eight I think?" Harry called back over his shoulder.

"Two more and that's it for today." Dan said before slowing and walking out the rest of his lap.

Harry ran up to him and the kid was barely sweating. It was at that moment that Dan hated the boy for his youth. The feeling passed quickly and they headed back to the small patch of grass where they stretched. Dan lead Harry through a light to mid range PT session for twenty minutes and the kid was finally sweating hard. They chugged down some water and Gatorade as they headed back down the stair into the house. They hit the weight bench in the garage side of the study and Dan showed Harry the right way to use the weight after he saw the boy's sloppy technique. By the end of the session Harry was up to ten reps of 90 pounds on the bench. But where the boy really shined was the pull up bar. The skinny kid could do sixty pull ups before he got tired and had to drop down.

"You're quite strong for a skinny guy Harry. I'm shocked. You only weigh what. 135?" Dan asked.

"I checked last night. I'm 131. A big improvement over what I started at and the potions are making me bigger by the day. I think I'm almost 5'8" now." Harry said toweling the sweat off his head.

"I really need to get my hands on some of that stuff." Dan said as they walked to the other side of the house where their rooms where. As they got close Hermione slipped out of Harry's room in a bathrobe, slippers, and a towel wrapped around her head.

"All my things are in the green room I think I'm going to move into the master suit today if you don't mind." She asked Harry. Harry in turn looked to Dan.

"Hey don't look at me. You two are responsible as hell. You can't get pregnant right?" Dan asked his daughter.

"No, I'm on a potion that stops my reproductive organs from working for four months. It's 100% effective." Hermione said.

"Then I have no objections. To tell you the truth we figured you were already sleeping together. When you send your kid off to a boarding school you expect all kinds of shenanigans. The fact that you two nerds are still virgins is truly shocking. I don't mind. As long as I'm not going to become a grandfather any time soon." Dan said heading into his room leaving two red faced teens in the hallway.

"I guess I'll move my things into the master then." Hermione said.

"I'd like that." Harry said blushing harder before he headed into his room to get showered and changed.

Harry and Dan spent the morning playing through the par 62 mini golf course on the roof three times. By the time they came down at ten Harry shot a 60 and Dan shot a 58. But the whole point was to get Harry used to hitting the ball and reading the green which the boy could do now. They came down and had a beer as they installed the projector in the movie room. By the time they were done bumbling their way through setting up all the inputs it was time for lunch. They went out to eat at a small greek place that had really good potatoes and was right down the street from the healer's office Abby made them appointments in. They all piled into the Camaro this time. With Dan and Harry up front the three girls fit in the back easy.

When they got to the office they were pleased to see that the place stuck with the theme of American magical modesty. The office looked like any other doctors office. There was a receptionist at the front desk. A weighting room with outdated magazines. The medical forms were the same with a few exceptions. Questions like: have you ever been hit with a dark curse? Or what is your mage power level, and are you taking any potions at the moment if so what are they and do you make them yourself? Aside from that the office looked normal. The Grangers were set to go first. Hermione took her mum into exam room one and Harry sat with Dan in exam room two. A young nurse in pink scrubs came in and ran Dan through the normal battery of tests like blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, and power level. The exception being that she did it all by running a few diagnostic scans over Dan's body.

"This is your first visit with us was there something you came in for specifically or are you just coming by for your yearly check up?" She asked.

"Yes, there is something I'm here to inquire about. You see up until a few days ago I thought I was um…." Dan was trying not to say the word normal.

"You thought you were non-magical." The nurse supplied with a knowing smile.

"Yes. You see our daughter is a witch. But we thought she was a first generation witch. Then we came here from the UK a few days ago and a friend of ours tested us and we found out that both my wife and I have magic. I'm a squib and my wife is a witch. I was injured a long time ago in a military training accident and they repaired my knee and shin with a bunch of pins and screws. My daughter said I can have the bones vanished and regrown now that I have a core." Dan said as she ran scans on his legs.

"Yes. That is an option. I bit brutal if you ask me. It's the equivalent of setting fire to your house to knock down a few walls. It will work but the pain is not worth it. Dr. Carter will have a few other options but I can tell you now it's not that badly damaged. It looks like all the pieces are still in there so we won't have to grow any bones. We just need to get the pins out and mend the bones. I'm sure Dr. Carter can do it in a few minutes. Let me just tell him to prep the Operation Room." The nurse said.

"What's the recovery time going to be fore this procedure? Will I be able to walk around in a few weeks? Months?" Dan asked.

"Weeks? Dr. Granger, this is a simple procedure. You'll get a numbing injection in your leg. We'll do the extraction, heal you up, and in an hour you'll be as good as new." The nurse said walking out of the room.

"See, I told you! I've had loads of life ending injuries and I've bounced back from each one of them. Magic is truly wonderful." Harry said.

"No shit kid. One hour. I was in the hospital for weeks, then it took a long time to relearn how to walk." Dan said shaking his head.

"And just think, your daughter wanted to vanish your bones and have them regrown." Harry said.

A half hour later Dan sat on a small operating table with Harry and Hermione by his side. He watched in fascination as Dr. Carter cut his leg open from mid thigh to mid shin with a large razor sharp kitchen knife and pulled the layers of skin, fat, and muscle back to reveal the bones. Hermione got dizzy when she saw the bone and blood and had to leave the room. Harry gave Dan's shoulder a squeeze as the doctor started yanking the pin out and shattering the bones with a small hammer to get the screws out. At the sound of the bones breaking Dan felt himself go light headed but Harry squeezed his shoulder and that re-centered him. Once all the metal was out the doctor waved his wand over the bones and muttered a spell and before their eyes the bones mended. When he was sure it was fine he cast a few more spells and the muscles started to knit back together. Then the layer of fat. Finally he did it again and the layer of skin knitted back together and Dan was looking at his unscared leg.

"You do really good work doc. You even healed the scars. I wish I had you when I was bit by an acromantula. I still got the nasty scars on my right leg." Harry said.

"Really? It takes more effort to leave a scare then to do it right." Dr. Carter said.

"That old bitch! She did it on purpose." Harry said lifting his pants cuff to show off the jagged scars on his calf.

"I can fix that. Man you Brits have taken a beating. I have to heal a fire curse scare on the girl that was just in here." The Doctor said scanning Dan's leg.

"When you get a chance to look at me you're going to be shocked. My body is covered in battle damage." Harry said.

"Well, you'll spend some time on this table then." Dr. Carter said, and he was not wrong.

Harry ended up spending an hour on the table as Doc Carter cut him open, healed his bones and deep tissue properly and closed him back up. Not that he knew anything about it. He was knocked out. Dan was the only one in the room watching the procedure being done. Harry wanted all the scare gone, bones mended, and old wounds healed. The one exception was the scar on his upper left bicep where the basilisk fang went through his arm. He wanted that scar. It looked like a gunshot wound and the story was one of his cooler ones. He had handed a big stack of bill to Dan before going under and when he woke up they were on the 3 expressway in New Jersey headed for Metlife stadium.

"Hey kid. Have a good sleep?" Dan asked handing the boy a Monster when he saw him get up. Dan was driving and the girls were in the back.

"Yeah, how long was I out for?" Harry asked popping the top on the can and chugging half of it.

"Just over an hour for the operating room and almost two hours for the drive out to New Jersey. Doctor Carter said you were one of his worst cases." Dan said.

"Good to know, thanks for driving." Harry said.

"You kidding? I love this car. And we're here." Dan said with a smile as he pointed to the big football stadium.

The stadium played host to the New York Jets and the New York Giants during the football season. But during the summer it was the home to ten times ALQ champions the New York Dragons. Abby got them access to the bank's club level VIP box on the fifty yard line. They pulled into the VIP parking lot at five and they had two hours before the game started. They headed up to the box to check out the view and they saw they were just above the height of the rings at half court giving them the perfect view. A hostess named Becky in a green and gray vest came by when they got settled in and handed them menus.

"We never have to leave the box and they are playing the last game on the in room TVs." Dan said looking at the food list.

"We'll take the nacho platter for ten. Let's do the hot pretzel tray, and the six foot long party sub. How many beers come in the ice chest?" Harry asked the hostess.

"18 but we refill it when you're running low and we offer a sober charm at the end of the night." Becky the hostess said with a helpful smile.

"Great, in that case we'll take the ice chest of beers, you guys want anything else?" Harry asked the group.

"Just how bottomless is the bottomless picture of margaritas?" Dora asked with a grin.

"If we think you've had too much we have the right to cut you off but if three of you are sharing it then you should be fine." Becky said.

"I want that then. We'll split it between us girls." Dora said.

"Can we get Dragon's jerseys and fan gear as well?" Harry asked.

"You can order it off a list or the VIP fan shop is at the end of the hall." Becky said.

"I think we'll start with five jerseys." Harry said.

"We'll have your order ready in just a bit. Enjoy the game." Becky said walking out.

"Now this is the way to see a game. We definitely need to get one of these boxes." Harry said taking a seat by the bar and looking at the big TV hanging on the wall.

"So you play this sport Harry?" Emma asked.

"No, I used to play international style quidditch. I played seeker. I spent most of the game looking for a stupid little flying ball. That sport is so broken. This seems much better. With much faster play and way more scoring. This should be way more fun. This is like a football match in the air. Oh! And they play full contact!" Harry said watching a male Dragon's chaser shoulder check a female Vegas Vampire chaser almost off her broom.

"They play coed?" Dan asked in shock as they replayed the hit.

"In the Magical world we always play coed. Half the time the girls are meaner than the guys. Witches tend to heal faster then wizards. So they're more likely to go for a game ending move on another player. Besides they're playing with much better pads then we play with. Look at those things." Harry said pointing to the big life sized poster of a Dragon's player on the wall of the box. The player looked to be in hockey pads. In fact the jersey looked like a lightweight hockey jersey.

"That doesn't stop them from dying if they hit the ground." Emma said.

"The field is most likely cushion charmed. It's like landing on a big mattress." Hermione said.

Soon waiters with food carts started showing up. Becky popped in and handed Harry five big hockey jerseys made of lightweight athletic fabric. The jerseys were hunter green with gray numbers and names. On the font was the Dragons logo of a green dragon in profile in a gray circle. They had five different numbers and names on the back and each jersey was a men's 4XL.

"Why are they so big?" Emma asked putting on number five and it hung on her like a dress.

"Because it's easier to manufacture a million jerseys in the same size and have you custom fit them yourself with a spell." Hermione said hitting her mum with a spell. The jersey shrank to fit her.

"I love magic." Emma said looking at her jersey.

They spent the next hour and a half watching the last Dragon's game on the TV which they lost by 15 before the live game against the Seattle Sasquatches started. Play was fast, violent, and almost too hard to follow in person. Without instant replay Harry would have missed a few goals. The lines of chasers played like devils. They never let up and they changed lines on the fly without break. There was a shot on goal every thirty seconds. Something that was easy to keep track of when watching the game on TV but hard to watch in real life. Soon the girls had begged off and sat at the bar in the room to watch the game on the TV. By halftime even Harry had to admit his eyes were hurting. But he was having a great time cheering and booing with the crowd. The Dragons were down by ten at the half with a score of 53 to 43.

The halftime show was a fire show. A group of ten wizard dazzled the crowd with a flight of dragons made of fire doing battle in the air above the field. They were all impressed by the display but Dan and Emma were amazed.

"Can you teach me that spell?" Emma asked.

"I don't think it's a spell so much as control over fire. They might be Fire mages or arch mages." Hermione said.

When the fire mages ended their show the Dragon cheerleaders came out to hype up the crowd and the players took the field for the second half. Play seemed to drop in pace as the game progressed and the players got tired and battered. There were less shots on goal and more saves. By the end the Dragons lost by two points in a 75 to 73 point game that saw the Dragons rally at the end thanks to their keeper going almost lights out at the end. Becky came by at the end of the game and handed Harry a bill. He gave her his black bank card which she touched to a black leather folder and it flashed. Harry took the card back and handed her a five hundred dollar tip.

"Thanks Becky, this night was great." Harry said.

"Thank you for coming. This is your complimentary Team Quaffle. Drive safely." She handed him a white leather Quaffle signed by all of the Dragons.

"This is awesome! Look at this!" Harry said showing Dan.

"That's so cool. We should put this in the game room." Dan said.

"Good idea." Harry said leading the group out to the car.

"Here kid, you drive. I've had about three too many." Dan said.

"So have I. Hermione, can you hit me with a sober charm?" Harry asked.

"Sure." She said casting the spell as she got into the back seat where she promptly passed out between her mom and Dora.

Harry got on the expressway behind the large group of cars headed back into the city. Thankfully they were in the VIP lot and they could get out slightly ahead of the crowd. Still they were caught in traffic for three hours getting back across the Lincoln tunnel. By the time they got back to The Potter it was after midnight and Harry was the only one awake in the car. He pulled up into the garage and woke everyone up. They shambled into the elevator and as soon as they got into the apartment they headed for their bedrooms so they could pass out again. Harry led Hermione to their room and he sat her on the bed as he ditched most of his clothes. He left his boxers and t-shirt on. Hermione for her part shucked her shoes, socks, and jeans. She reached in under her shirt and pulled her bra off without taking off her shirt which confused Harry. They both slipped into bed under the covers and they were asleep in minutes.

The next morning came too soon for Harry. Dan woke him at half past six that Thursday and Harry protested as he rolled out of bed. They did a lighter workout that morning and swam laps in the pool instead of lifting weights because they were both feeling hungover. After breakfast Harry and Hermione drove to the wandmakers to get his new wand. The final price ended up being $22,500 but it was a work of art. Gold and diamond encrusted with carved dragon, basilisk and phoenix intertwined on the wand shaft. The handle had a gentle knurling and the six embedded emeralds. The tip came to a spiked point sharp enough to use as a push dagger. Harry paid the rest of his balance and added a three hundred dollar tip. They stopped off at the bank to see Abby after that. Abby was shocked to see him.

"Why didn't you just call. You didn't have to come down here." She said letting them into her office.

"It's a nice day for a drive." Harry said relaxing back into his seat in front of her desk.

"It is nice. We've been having a good summer. What can I help you with?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you can get us a box like the bank has for Dragon's games. How much would something like that cost?" Harry asked.

"For a club level box for the season? I think the bank pays about a little more than a half million. Do you want me to look into getting you a box? There are companies that buy boxes, lose money, and then they try to unload them for less than they're worth. I can probably get you a box for the next twenty or so home games for about $175,000. If the Dragons make it into the playoffs, which I doubt they will it's a really good deal." Abby said.

"I'll take it. I also want 50 sets of paired portkeys. I was going to buy 15 sets but I figured why not buy in bulk now so I always have them. How much will that cost?" Harry asked.

"For 50 sets? $2,500 a set. $125,000. I can get them to you in a couple of days." Abby said taking notes in a small black book.

"Good, we're also going to need to charter a flight to Paris in four days." Harry said.

"What time did you want to take off?" Abby asked making notes.

"The train arrives when?" Harry asked Hermione.

"One o'clock in the afternoon or there about. But Dora said she wanted to stake out the station before the train got there." Hermione said.

"Right, how long is the fight?" Harry asked.

"About three and a half hours. You want to get there at noon you're going to have to leave here at three in the morning because of the time difference. You know you can send a portkey to the Paris bank branch right?" Abby asked.

"Will we have enough time?" Harry asked.

"Sure, I can overnight it to Paris and you can pop over when you want. It would be a lot cheaper to have the bank hold your portkey then to charter this flight." Abby said.

"Can you send over a portkey to Paris and four to London? One for them to hold and three to hand over to Andromeda Tonks, Augusta Longbottom, and Amelia Bones." Harry asked.

"That's a lot of A names." Abby muttered making Harry laugh.

"That it is. All three stubborn women that are going to stay in the UK until the very last second to leave." Harry said.

"I can do all of that easy enough." Abby said.

"Do you need the cash or do you just take it out of my account?" Harry asked.

"I can take it out of your account. Also, I got you and Dan a meeting with the country club president at nine tomorrow, as well as a tee time for ten." Abby said handing his a post-it note.

"Awesome. Thanks Abby. Now we just need to hit up a driving range today." Harry said.

"Chelsea Piers golf club." Abby said writing down an address and handing him another post-it.

"Thank you Abby. You know, it's going to suck in a few days when I won't be able to just call you for things." Harry said standing up.

"For a small fee you can call the bank and they can give you the same thing. It will even be me from time to time." Abby said.

"I'm definitely paying the fee." Harry said.

"Where are you two headed for lunch?" Abby asked.

"We're not sure. We figured we'd drive around a bit and see what caught our eye." Harry said.

"Try Sushi Yasuda on 43rd street. The best lunch you can have. It's nice and light but filling and health. I'll call in a reservation for 12:45 for the sushi bar." Abby said handing him another post-it.

"Life saver." Hermione said snatching the post-it from Harry's hand looking excited.

"Thanks Abby." Harry said leading his girl out the door.

"Let's get going so we can get our date out of the way. That way you can get to your date with my dad." Hermione said leading Harry out of the bank to his car.

"Hay all joking aside, it's not a problem I spend so much time with your dad right?" Harry asked.

"No. I think it's cute. So does Mum. It's nice that dad has someone to hang around with. He hates his boring work friends, his old service friends don't like to golf or go hunting. Mum is not a sporty person. She's like me. She's happy to sit in the library and live in a book. Dad's always been a bit lonely." Hermione said with a sad smile.

"Well, I've never had an adult male to hang around with, but if you ever want me to stop hanging out with your dad you just tell me." Harry said.

"Harry relax. You're not cheating on me with my dad. You like to do guy stuff. My dad likes to do guy stuff. In a few days when Neville gets here I'm sure he'll be hanging out with you two and Susan will hang out with us. If anyone should feel left out it's Dora. she's too sporty to sit in the library, but too girly to hang out with you guys. I think you need to make time for her. Take her with you to Dragons games, and baseball games. Take her to lunch." Hermione said hugging his arm.

"I'll make time for her. I wonder what I can do for her. I feel bad that she gave up her life back home to sit here in America." Harry said.

"Well, Oliver Wood is going to be coming over soon, I remember she said they fancied each other back in school. I'm sure with a little help they can rekindle that old flame. I'm sure tickets to a Dragon's game would help." Hermione said with a conspiratorial grin.

"I'm make sure we're going to be out of town looking at my other houses on the day of a Dragon's game. It would be a waste for no one to use the box that night." Harry said in mock sadness.

"Yes it would be such a waste." Hermione said laughing.

The rest of the day flew by. After lunch a nice lunch with Hermione Harry and Dan spent a three hours hitting golf balls and working on his swing. When they got back Harry took Dora to a diner for burgers and shakes. They talked about life and how they were adjusting. She asked him about his relationship with Hermione and Harry told her in general terms what they did so far and she gave him advice about being more confident. Harry was embarrassed but she reminded him that Hermione loved him and there was nothing wrong with being confident about their relationship. After dinner they headed to the movies to see Jurassic World. When the movie let out Dora hugged Harry.

"This was fun." She said.

"It was. I'm sorry I haven't spent more time with you." Harry said.

"You don't have to spend time with me. I don't need to be entertained Harry. I'm fine. That being said, it's nice to have evenings like this." She said.

"Well, I know you don't have much to do and if you want to. You can go off and explore…" Harry started to say but Dora cut him off with a laugh.

"Harry, I love you kid, but you need to relax. More people are coming over in a few days and they are going to need help getting around. I'm going to have to teach Neville, Susan, and Luna how to drive. Odd's going to need a space to set up his paper. My dad's going to be coming over with the group. Not to mention Oliver. He was just coming up in the Auror Cadets and we were starting to talk again. I'd like to see where that can go. There's going to be a lot to keep me busy in the next few weeks. Knowing that you and Hermione can take care of yourselves and her parents will take a big burden off my shoulders and I can work on the next group." Dora said as Harry drove them back to the apartment.

"Good, and just so you know, when Oliver gets here, if you want to spend more time with him I've got property all over the world. I'm sure the Miami house has a beach. And I'm having Abby get me a box for the rest of the ALQ season. I'm sure Oliver would like to see a game. Or better yet, meet the team. I'm sure that can be arranged for the right price." Harry said.

"He would die. He wanted to play professional quidditch so bad." Dora said.

"I know. Oliver was the guy that taught me how to play. You don't think I want to get my old captain a spot on a team? There has to be a shity team in need of a lights out keeper. One season on a bad team to showcase his skills and he could play for any team in the league." Harry said.

"You think?" She asked.

"The keeper for the Dragons was good, but Oliver was always lights out. Without having to worry about blunders and just having to stop shots? He'd be a star of the league in a few seasons." Harry said as he pulled into the garage.

"Harry, thanks for taking me out." Dora said hugging him as they got on the elevator.

"It's no big deal. What we have to do is try to make this a weekly thing. Just you and me." Harry said leading her into the apartment.

"I'd like that." Dora said splitting off to head off to the library where the Granger women were encamped working on Emma's magic.

Harry headed into the shooting room for his nightly firearms session. Dan showed Harry a shooting drill to speed up transition to new targets and shooting on the move. By the time he locked up the house and shut off most of the lights Hermione was already sitting on the bed. She was wearing a white man's dress shirt that was half unbuttoned, boyshorts, and her hair was loose. She was reading a magazine.

"Hey." Harry said blushing slightly when he saw her.

"Hey. Why don't you take off your clothes?" She said with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah," Harry said setting his gun on the nightstand he dropped his gun rig and vest in the chair next to the bed. He kicked off his shoes, as he unbuttoned his shirt when she stopped him.

"Not so fast. I want to see you." She said setting her magazine on the night stand and sitting up on her knees. The sight of her kneeling on the bed, the way she was dressed, and with her hair willed and tussled was making his pants very uncomfortable.

"Okay?" He said in an unsure voice as tossed his shirt on the chair and stripped off his pants. He tried to do it slowly but was very unsuccessful. It looked awkward, uncomfortable, and at one point in the painstakingly long process he almost got tripped up causing him to stumble. Hermione tried to hold back a giggle but it slipped out Harry looked up, saw her smile and laughed. That's when he thought about Dora's words of advice. He grind and decided to act confidently.

"What? This not sexy enough for you?" He asked kicking his pants off in a awkward karate kick adding a "hi-ah" Bruce Lee sound effect that had Hermione rolling around on the bed laughing so hard she couldn't breath.

"Please stop. You're terrible." She said gasping for air.

"Yeah. Terrible-ly sexy. Oh yeah!" Harry said humping the air in his boxer, socks, and t-shirt.

"Please I can't breath." She said laughing.

"You like that?" Harry asked pulling off his shirt and making sure it got hung up on his face so he had to flail around to get it off. When he tossed it off he affixed a goofy sexy grin on his face that looked painful to hold.

"I can't, I don't know if I ever want you to touch me again." She said holding her belly.

"You just can't handle my sexy. It scares you how hot I am. I'm like fire. Magic fire!" He said making uncoordinated hip movements so off key it was shockingly impressive to be that bad.

"Please. For the sake of this relationship stop while I still think I like you." She said leaning forwards to grab his shoulders and pull him onto the bed.

"Fine. You're such an expert you show me." Harry said sitting on the bed and pulling off his socks.

"You want me to strip?" She asked looking shocked and excited.

"Sure, you can show me what I'm doing wrong." Harry said with a confident grin that made her pulse quicken.

"Okay." She said sitting up on her knees again. She looked into his eyes and saw the confidence there. It was sexy. He was such a powerhouse in everything he did when he had to react. When he was forced to play the part of Harry Potter, or Harry Steel now. But when it came time to be just Harry, he faltered. He was unsure of himself. To see him look at her with his confident eyes unlocked something deep within her. She felt herself flush, a fire traveled up her body and she shuddered ever so slightly. She bit her lip and saw Harry's eyes turn from confident to predatory. His smile became wolfish. She felt her body tingle.

"I thought you were going to strip for me?" He asked in a deep voice dripping with hunger.

"I, don't know." She said blushing.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because, if I take my clothes off we won't be virgins any more." She said.

"Do you want to take your clothes off?" He asked without a hint of embarrassment or shame.

"So much. Do you want me to." She asked in a voice that wavered as her breath hitched.

"Yes. I do. I want you to. I always want you to." He said trying to show her he was ready. It helped that he was practically bursting out of his boxers.

"Oh Harry." She said practically diving on top of him and attacking his mouth. As she kissed him she fumbled with the buttons on her shirt until she got frustrated and yanked the shirt over her head and threw it behind her. Her shirt hit the bed side lamp, knocked it off the nightstand, and it crashed to the marble floor where it shattered.

"Shit!" She swore and that made both of them laugh. It broke the moment.

"I'll go fix that. You stay where you are. I'm not done with you yet." Harry said grabbing his wand off the nightstand and rolling off the bed.

He fixed the lamp with a spell and set it back on the table. He shut it off casting half the room in darkness. He walked around the bed and set his wand next to his gun. He got back on the bed and shut his light off casting the room into darkness. The only light in the room came from the soft glow of the wall sconces by the door and the bathroom. They threw off just enough light to see in the dark were the bathroom was. Harry reach out his hand and touched her. He found her shoulder in the darkness and they both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. He leaned in and kissed her. It it was soft but still full of heat. She grabbed his arm and laid back in bed pulling him on top of her.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yes." She said kicking off her shorts.

"Okay." He said he said regaining some of the confidence he had a minute ago.

That night they fumbled through their first time just like Andy said he would. But their second time was much better, and by the time they fell asleep in each other's arms. They figured out their fifth time was the charm.

The next day, Friday, Harry got up before his alarm went off. He slipped out from under Hermione and shut it off. He looked down at her sleeping form and he smiled. Her hair was everywhere and she made the softest little snores. He slipped back into bed and kissed Hermione's neck. She sighed and rolled over to look at him. He brushed her hair back out of her face.

"Hi." He said with a smile.

"Hi." She said matching his smile.

"So last night. I'm sorry about the first few times." He said blushing.

"But by the end I think we figured it out." She said before she giggled at the conversation they were having.

"I think I have twenty minutes before I have to get going." Harry said with a confident smile.

"But what are we going to do with all the extra time?" She asked with a smirk.

"Extra time!" Harry said indignantly as he attacked her sides making her giggle.

Giggling turned into groans, which turned into moans. Harry had just enough time to meet Dan out front of his room with a the cooler of water bottles, and a towel. He was slightly out of breath and when the older man looked at him he blushed. Dan shook his head.

"I don't want to know, or think about it. Let's just get to it this morning. We have a long day ahead of us." Dan said.

"Yes sir." Harry said.

"Oh god. Don't start acting odd on me now it will just confirm everything." Dan said and they both laughed.

"Sorry. I'll try to keep it in." Harry said.

"Good." Dan said leading the boy up to the roof.

After a light workout they got changed into light slacks and golf shirts. They had a good breakfast, and when Hermione walked into the kitchen she blushed when Harry kissed her. This made Dan shake his head and Emma grin.

"Don't start talking before we get up. We'll be out of the room soon enough." Dan said finishing his cup of coffee. Harry followed his lead and the two men practically ran for the door.

They headed out to New Jersey in Harry's car with their golf bags and shoes shrunken down to fit in his small trunk. They made it to the golf course at a little after nine thanks to Harry speeding and the light traffic. They didn't talk much at first but then Dan laughed.

"Look. I'm in an odd position here Kid. There's a part of me. The father of a daughter that is both disgusted and horrified. But there's a part of me that's your friend and I want to be happy for you. The biggest part of me, the part of me that's rational, is happy for you two. You're young and in love and you make eachother happy. And it's nice to know my daughter found someone that makes her happy." Dan said.

"Good. Is this where I ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage?" Harry asked looking over at the man with a smile.

"I suppose so. It's good that you're thinking about making an honest woman out of my daughter." Dan said.

"As soon as I think she'll be comfortable with me asking. I give it a few months at most." Harry said.

"Good. Now, let us talk of more important things. Like golf. Today is an important day for you. It is the first time you experience the lifelong anguish that is golf. There will be days when you can't hit the ball straight to save your life. On those days you will curse the game, curse the Scottish for inventing the game, and curse me for teaching you the game. But then you'll hit that one shot. Oh son that shot will change everything. That one shot will make you walk taller and you'll come back again just so you can curse everything again. At this point you might be asking yourself why you would play this most vexing of games? You play for that one shot. That one shot is everything." Dan said.

"That one shot?" Harry said testing the thought.

"That one shot. You'll see." Dan said.

They pulled up to the valet and got out. They checked in and headed to the clubhouse for bloody Marys. An important part of the golf experience according to Dan. They met with the president of the country club about becoming members. Harry let Dan do all the talking. Harry ran out to the car to get their clubs and shoes. They teed off at ten. Abby arranged it so they went out by themselves which was good because they goofed off enough to take twice as long as it should have taken. Dan was good but Harry was no slouch. Harry and Dan ended up 10 over and 6 over par. By the time they made it back to the clubhouse they agreed they need to become members. They filled out the paperwork and Harry paid the membership fees for the whole family. They had a late lunch and headed back to the city where the girls all made fun of their man date.

They stayed in that night. Abby stopped by at six and handed Harry a big stack of thin gold business cards that were numbered 1-50 in sets of two. She also handed him a few gold business card holders. She also had a green leather binder with the Dragon's logo on the front. Inside was more than half the tickets and parking passes for a box that was right across the way from the bank's box on the half court line. Of the 50 home games that season the binder had 26 left. The next game was two days away against the Miami Sand Sharks, who according to Abby was going to wipe the floor with the Dragons. Harry invited her to the game. But she begged off because she was going to be out of town that day. Harry handed her the first five portkeys and he changed the names on them. One was labeled Paris, one one was labeled London, three had names, Andromeda Tonks, Amelia bones, and Augusta Longbottom. On Hermione's suggestion he added three more portkeys so they could send other people to America if they needed to. Abby took the portkeys and left. Harry walked her down to the lobby.

"Good evening Mr. Steel!" Mike said in greeting.

"Hey Mike, just the man I was looking for. I wanted to ask you about portkeys. Specifically where the wards allow you to portkey in?" Harry asked.

"Well the building it warded pretty heavily. The only two places to land a portkey is in the basement parking garage and the portkey landing zone off the lobby. You have a few paired portkeys you want to set up?" Mike asked.

"I do. I have eight so far but I'd like to leave ten in there. Will that be a problem?" Harry asked.

"Not at all. Are these portkeys for your use or your family's use?" Mike asked.

"No. I sent six of them overseas they are going to be used as emergency lifelines." Harry said.

"In that case, we'll use the locked room in the portkey landing zone. Right this way." Mike said leading Harry through a door next to the front desk.

Through the door was a 20x20 foot room with a brass floor made of small one foot square tiles. As Harry looked closer at the floor he saw each tile was the lid to a box set into the floor. Each box was numbered like the apartments. On the other side of the room was a door made of heavy plate steel with a 2x2 foot barred window. Behind that door was a 10x10 foot room with the same brass box floor. Harry understood what the room was instantly. He peeled off the six life line portkeys and set them in a free box in the floor.

"You'll be alerted if a portkey is activated right?" Harry asked walking out of the locked room.

"Yes, we have a bell and a light the goes off above the door in the lobby when a portkey goes off. That room can withstand a few dozen blasting curses and the second we see a threat we hit a button under the front counter and Aurors show up in a few minutes." Mike said.

"Well, call up to the apartment if someone pops in." Harry said finding the Penthouse box in the bigger main room. He dropped five other portkeys in the box after labeling them with the names of his family and closed the box. Now his family could always pop back to the Potter building if they needed to.

"We will call you when we get new arrivals, and we don't let anyone out of the lobby unless we get the all clear from a resident." Mike said.

"That's good to know. Thanks for the heads up Mike. Hey you got a kid right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I got a ten year old daughter named Madison. Maddy." Mike said.

"Well I just got a Club box for the Dragons for the rest of the season. The next game is two nights from now Sunday at seven. Why don't you come with us and bring your little girl. We're going to drive out there and take a few of those portkeys back. The box seats twenty people and there's five of us. We order a bunch of food and we're right above play height on the half court line. If you want to come along we'll be taking two or three cars to get out there." Harry said.

"Thank you so much for asking. I think we'll come along. Do you think I can bring Steve's boy Tim along? He's nine and he loves the Dragons." Mike asked.

"Absolutely! Like I said we got the box for the rest of the year and it holds twenty. It's a crime to bring less than ten people out there. If you have a girlfriend, or if you know any other kids in the building. I might take a run out to the stadium tomorrow and set up a portkey so we don't have to take four cars out there." Harry said.

"Yeah, I'll think about it and let you know. I think Walter has a few grand kids." Mike said.

"Crap I forgot about Walter. He was supposed to come over that night to work on the car in my study." Harry said.

"I'll tell him to come along. We got guys that can cover for us." Mike said.

"Thanks Mike. And in the future if we can't make it to a game I'll let you know and let you take the pass. Or Walter. There are 26 games that are going to be played weather we watch them or not, so we might as well watch them." Harry said with a grin as he walked to the elevator.

"I'll call Walter and set it up." Mike said.

When Harry got back to the apartment he saw everyone was in the library. When he walked in he saw Emma showing off her grasp of the levitation spell.

"Good work. How many spell do you know at this point?" Harry asked.

"Ten. Hermione is the best teacher." Emma said hugging her daughter.

"I know, she taught me almost everything I know. Without her help I would have failed out of school years ago. What spells do you know?" Harry asked kissing Hermione as he took a seat on her desk.

"I know Lumos, and the blue ball flame, and the unlocking spell which is way too powerful to teach to kids." Emma said.

"Show me, let's have a little magic show." Harry said pulling out his wand.

"Okay," Emma said excitedly.

That turned into a magic show put on by all the mages in the house. Everyone brought something to the table and they had fun. After that Harry hit the range and went over the target transition drill. He set two targets 15 foot away and 20 foot from each other and practiced putting two rounds on one target and transitioning to the next target. He went back and forth until the two targets had one big ragged hole in the center. He spent ten minutes reloading his magazines and collecting the spent brass shell casing into a big barrel after that.

He did a check of the house and headed to bed where he found Hermione laying under the covers waiting for him. Harry quickly stripped and pulled back the blanket to get in and saw Hermione was naked. He ditched his boxers and dove into bed making her laugh as he kissed her. That night Harry proved that the morning's improvements on his first night's performance was not a fluke. He proved it four times and Hermione was unbelievably happy with his performance. He was electric. Every place he touched her sent shivers down her body to her center. She didn't know his magic was helping him please her. He was so worried about being good for her his magic was making sure she had a good time. They both passed out that night in a sweaty heap of limbs grinning like fools.

Back in the UK the Dark Lord was still in a coma, in his mind he was cursing his boy nemesis for severing the connection that was feeding power into his soul. Little did he know that Harry saved his miserable half life. Had they still been connected Harry and Hermione's night time activities would have tainted the connection with pure love and magic that would have made him die screaming.

It's odd how life worked out. For Harry to get away he had to kill Harry Potter. By doing so he severed the connection to Tom. If he was still connected to the dark lord his love for Hermione would have killed Voldemort taking one threat off the board. But Harry would have never hooked up with his best friend if he had still been stuck at his aunt's house and he would have never had the courage to admit he lived Hermione when he was still Harry Potter. In the end it didn't matter but somewhere in the world a seer was having an aneurysm thanks to the oddity that was circumstance.


	8. Chapter 8

Saturday Harry woke up to the sound of the alarm clock. He hit it with a wandless silencing charm and looked up into golden brown eyes that were looking at him confused by the sudden sound. She was laying on his chest and he was very aware that they were both naked. Harry slipped out from under her and rolled out of bed.

"Go back to sleep Love, it's early yet." He said pulling on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"Okay, the show's over any ways." She said with a smile. Harry leaned over and kissed her.

He collected his socks, shoes, vest, gun, and wand before he slipped out of the room. He met Dan in the hall and they headed up to the roof. Harry stretched as Dan flexed his knees. Dan looked over and saw Harry smiling.

"Sleep well?" Dan asked with a grin.

"I did. You?" Harry asked seeing the spring in the man's step.

"I did. Emma really loves magic." Dan said.

"I get it. Hermione loves it too. She practically radiates excitement." Harry said jogging alongside Dan.

"We doing anything today?" Dan asked.

"I wanted to call Abby and see if she knew of a car dealership that deals with mages. I want to get a big SUV that can hold a bunch of people. When people start coming over we're going to need a car that can fit a bunch of people. I'd buy a limo if I thought it would be easy to drive and hold more people but a big SUV or van can hold 8-10 people. I also have to take a run out to New Jersey. I want to bury a portkey marker on the side of the road somewhere between the country club and the stadium. That way we can skip the bridges or tunnel to get out there. It will cut our commute in half. On the return trip we can take the portkey right back to the lobby. I am not getting stuck in traffic after a Dragon's game again." Harry said.

"Good idea." Dan said nodding.

"Yeah I figure I can make the call after breakfast." Harry said keeping pace with the older man who, thanks to his Healer visit was running like a man half his age.

"How is your shooting going?" Dan asked.

"Good, I have the drill you taught me down cold. By the end of last night's session I went 40 for 40 in a row and I was moving faster each time." Harry said.

"That's really good, shooting is a skill. There is no other way to get better then to keep shooting. We should see if we can get a line on more cheap bulk ammo. I want my daughter and Dora to start practicing too. We should also get regular stock magazines for your guns so you get practice in reloading. It doesn't matter if you can hit the target every time, if your 150 round magazine jams, and you fumble a reload, you still end up dead. Also we need cell phones, it's been a week of sharing Dora's phone and it's starting to grate on me." Dan said.

"I'll add it to the list." Harry said.

They did a heavy workout that morning to make up for the two light days they did. They had breakfast and Harry put in a call to Abby. By nine Harry was on the Brooklyn bridge headed to the Red Hook neighborhood. He was driving his Camaro with Hermione riding shotgun and her parents in the back seat. Traffic was light and they made it to the dealership by half past nine. The place looked like a normal brick warehouse aside from the roll up garage door and the sign out front proclaiming Miguel's custom cars. Harry pulled up to the curb and shrank his car when he saw no one else was around. Just inside the door was an expanded room that acted as a showroom/front office for three salesmen. The room wouldn't be out of place in any car dealership in the US. The space was about 75x50 foot with thirty foot high ceilings that allowed you to see into the loft of offices on the second floor. On the showroom floor where six vehicles. They were obviously a tasting platter of what the shop did.

The first row of cars was a gleaming red 1970 Chevy Chevelle convertible, with snow white leather interior, sitting low and wide and ready for a cruise. Sitting next to it was a white 2010 BMW M3, the car had the light blue, dark blue, and red M striping on the side and the interior was ripped out and replaced by a roll cage, race seat and five point race harness the fenders were rolled out to fit wider racing slick tires. Next to that was a black 2015 Ferrari 458 spider with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, red and black interior, and fat black rims and over stretched tires.

The next row started with a smoke gray 2016 Jaguar xjl with blacked out windows so you couldn't see how magically expanded the car was inside. The back set up like a limo with forward and rear facing seats. It had four white leather aircraft seats in two pairs facing each other, a full entertainment system, and a mini bar. There was a black 2015 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited with a huge lift kit, giant off road tires, bull bars, a winch, safari roof rack, snorkel, and enough light bars to see into next year. But it was the last vehicle they came there for.

A 2015 Chevy Suburban. Every bit of the exterior was blacked out. The rims, the grill, the trim, the lights, the windows, even the chevy badging. The interior was expanded to house six rows of seats, three rows of two big aircraft style seats, and three rows of benches big enough to sleep on. Every seat had a cup holder, tv screen, headphone jack, USB and power outlets. The back cargo space had expanded compartments to hold more luggage than any twenty people would ever need. The engine was tuned up and the chassis was lightened. With four wheel drive, an expanded fuel tank, armor plating, and magical shielding it was an unstoppable beast.

"Can I help you?" A sales woman in a black business suit asked as she came up to them.

"Yes, My name is Harry Steel, Abby called ahead, I'm here for one of these beasts." Harry said.

"Yes, we've been expecting you, I'll go get the boss." She said rushing off. A few minutes later and a older Mexican man in his forties wearing a blue work shirt, jeans, and work boots came walking out of a side door. He pulled a wand from his back pocket and waved it over himself to clean off the grease before he approached the group.

"Hello, I'm Miguel Hernandez. Welcome to my shop. I understand you are in the market for our executive armored personnel carrier?" He asked in an odd accent that was one part east LA gang banger and one part Harvard businessman.

"I am. I was looking for a van or SUV that held 8 to 10 people. I was pointed to your shop by Abby. But now that I've seen your work I have a feeling this is going to be a very expensive trip for me. How much does one of these babies go for?" Harry asked hopping up into the driver's seat of the beast.

"For the base model with the armor and shielding and expanded six rows of normal leather seats you're looking at $78,000. This model with the aircraft seats, media screens, expanded cargo space, and custom paint is $110,000 out the door." Miguel said with a prideful grin.

"I'll take it." Harry said.

"You'll take it? No test drive? No haggling?" Miguel asked looking shocked.

"I suppose we should test drive it." Harry said.

"I'll pull one off the shelf in the back. Come this way please." Miguel said leading them through the door he came from.

"You have a lot to learn about buying a car Harry." Dan said laughing.

"You're not supposed the pay the price they ask for it?" Harry asked looking confused.

"They add a few thousand to the price so they have wiggle room to bargain with." Dan said.

"Oh, but doesn't that make you look cheap though don't you think? It's not like I can't afford it. Plus, if I pay sticker he might be willing to give us a deal if we buy in bulk. Did you see the race car? I want one. I bet track days are fun." Harry said with a grin as they walked through the door and into a huge shop floor area.

The shop had a dozen bays, an upholstery area, and a paint booth. There were about a hundred guys rushing around fixing cars and trucks. Miguel lead them over to a wall with five large heavy steel safes. He punched in a code and opened the large door. Inside the safe was six shelves full of shrunken cars the size of hotwheels. There had to be about a hundred cars in the safe. He pulled a few black SUVs out and looked at the tags attached to the back wheels. He found one he liked and put the other ones back. He pulled the tag off. Set it on the floor by the roll up door and expanded it with a wave of his wand. It was a clone of the Suburban in the showroom. He waved at the truck and they all got in with Harry behind the wheel. Miguel called out something in spanish and a worker jogged over and lifted the garage door for them.

Harry started the SUV and rolled out of the shop into the mostly empty streets of the industrial park area. The SUV handled like a dream. It floated on a cushion of air with almost no body roll, it took turns like a sports car, and the pedal response was immediate. If Harry had any doubts before they were gone by the time he pulled into the garage.

"Like I said, I'll take it. That is a truly amazing SUV to drive. Now what's the price tag for a pair of the BMW race cars we saw out front?" Harry asked.

"Those are factory spec racers good for the BMW M3 series, they run you $50,000 a piece. We use salvage cars to make them. For a pair? I normally do $95,000. But since you're buying the SUV too? I'll give you a pair of them for $85,000 out the door." Miguel said pulling two cars out of the safe and setting them on the ground. He expanded them and they saw a matched pair of M striped BMW M3 racecars with race tires, a front air diffusers, and big rear wings.

"What do you think Dan? Want to try your hand at a few track day events?" Harry asked.

"I think I do." Dan said slipping into one of the cars.

"These cars are not just for track days. You can enter them into the BMW Factory Spec series. I think you missed like half the season already but I'm sure you can wiggle your way in. They race every few weeks at tracks around the country. It's mostly for rich mages and dealerships. I think the season is 10-12 races. Half the field shows up with their cars in little cases along with the rest of the spare parts and pit crew tools." Miguel said.

"No kidding? That's crazy. Well we know what we're doing the rest of the summer." Harry said hopping into the other race car.

"What's that car they are working on?" Hermione asked pointing to a vintage green sports car being worked on by three men.

"That is a 1962 Jaguar MkII cabriolet." Miguel said.

"But they didn't make a MkII cabriolet." Dan said getting out of the car and coming to stand by his daughter.

"You're right. They didn't but this company in the UK started chopping old wrecked MkII's and making them. They charge an arm and a leg for what is essentially a salvaged titled chop shop deal. But because they have a fancy british name, and they put it on brushed stainless steel badges around the car it's special and they can charge $200,000 for them. I figured I could do the same thing for way less. We find wrecked bodies of old MkII's. We strip them back to the bare metal and rebuild them with new parts we make in house. We put in a new Jaguar V8, a six speed manual transmission, disk brakes, magnetic ride suspension off a new F- Type. The interior is all soft tanned leather, high polished exotic wood grain, and brushed stainless steel. There's a Bose six speaker sound system with bluetooth. You name it we put it on the car then we enchanted the crap out of it to make it lighter and shield it from that harshness of the world. We even have an enchantment on the car that turns the leather top into a hardtop for the winter. It's the car Jag would make if they were making them today. I have a few of them if you want to take one for a spin?" He said pulling three small cars out of the safe.

"I couldn't. It would be so expensive and I don't go anywhere so I wouldn't use it." Hermione rambled off before Harry kissed her to shut her up.

"Mia, do you like the car?" Harry asked.

"Yes. I think it's cute. But that's not a good enough reason to buy a car." She said.

"No, the fact that You think it's cute is enough of a reason to buy a car. You need a car of your own. What if we get busy in the next few weeks and everyone is rushing off to do something. You'll be stuck with my big Camaro or the tank I just bought. Why don't you take it for a test drive?" Harry asked turning her around. She saw three copies of the Jag that was being worked on. One in British racing green with tan leather interior, one in maroon with black leather, and one in black with red leather.

"Oh, I like the black one with the red leather." She said walking towards the car without thinking.

"Miguel, can we take the black one for a test drive?" Harry asked.

"Sure, the keys are in the ignition." Miguel said trying not to laugh.

"Dan, Emma, look at his stock. Take anything you like. Here Dan hold onto this." Harry said handing him the briefcase full of cash from his bag as he sat in the passenger seat next to Hermione who was very much in love with the car. She started it up and the V8 rumbled to life. She shifted and tested the pedal as she idled out of the garage before he gave it some more gas and took off.

"I love it. Listen to the purr of the engine." She said taking a turn around the corner faster than she normally would have and giggled when the car cornered flat with just a hint of over steer.

"Are you happy you tried it?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Yes. Can I have it?" She asked running her hands over the wood steering wheel and stainless steel shifter.

"Why are you asking me for? Your black card in your wallet is linked to the Steel account. It's your money too." Harry said.

"I didn't know that." She said.

"Well it is. It has been since I filled out the paperwork that night in the bank. What's mine is yours. It's the same with your parents cards and Dora's too. I did it the night I became Harry Steel." Harry said.

"Well in that case I'll take it." She said with a big smile as she pulled back into the garage.

"We'll take it!" Harry said.

"Very good." Miguel said.

"Where are my parents?" Hermione asked.

"Your mother found my stock of Porsche 356 kit cars. She found a California wide body in silver with dark red leather interior and went for a test drive. You both have good taste in cars. The red leather is very nice. And the Porsche she grabbed has a mid 90's air cooled 911 Carrera turbo engine. Very fast." Miguel said as the little roadster came screeching into the shop with Emma grinning behind the wheel.

"It's a keeper?" Harry asked.

"This is the nicest car I've ever driven. It's so fast and nimble." Emma said.

"Good, add it to the list. Let's start counting out the cash." Harry said taking the case from Dan.

"Right this way. We'll head into my office." Miguel said leading them to a glass walled conference room on the shop floor. He called out something in spanish and five guys started rushing around the cars they were taking. The room had a long table made of glass and eight black leather leather rolling chairs. Miguel cast a few cleaning charms on the room before he let them sit.

"The boys will get the paperwork ready and they'll stick on plates. Now let's talk price. Since you're buying so many cars at once, and if I can get your word you'll come to me first for the next time you're looking to buy a car I can give you a better deal then what we agreed on." Miguel said pulling out a piece of paper and a pen.

"You have my word I'll come to you first. You have a great stock of cars. In a few weeks we're going to have a bunch of people coming over to the states, they're going to need cars and this is the only place I'm coming. I have half a mind to go looking through your safe. The addiction is real and I liked that widebody Ferrari in your lobby." Harry said.

"You really like the 458? I can give it to you for $250,000." Miguel said with a knowing grin.

"I'm tempted, but I have three convertible Ferraris as it is. How much for a coupe. No, you know what? Don't tell me. Let's save that for later. I'm happy with my 355." Harry said making them all laugh.

"I understand. If I didn't own this place I'd be a very poor man with a garage full of cars I couldn't afford. Now we'll start with the Suburban. I quoted you 110, I can go as low as $100,000 even on that one. It's as low as I can go. We put a lot of work in those trucks. The pair of M3s, I can go as low as $42,000 a car on those, again I'm bumping up against my overhead. For the Jag I can do $68,000. Lastly the Porsche 356 will run you $59,000. Your total comes to $311,000. We take cash, checks, Gringotts bank drafts, and credit cards of you got one that can cover." Miguel said.

"You take Gringotts Black card?" Harry asked pulling his black card out.

"We do." Miguel said.

"Perfect! In that case shrink and box up everything but the two sports cars. We'll drive those out." Harry said handing him the black card.

"We'll have them gassed up and ready to roll out in about fifteen minutes. Help yourself to the drinks bar. We'll get your paperwork ready." Miguel said shaking hands as he walked out. Harry stood up and looked at the side bar and saw a one cup coffee maker and a glass front fridge full of drinks. He grabbed a can of monster.

"Emma they have caramel cappuccino in the one cup maker. You want one? They have to-go cups?" Harry asked holding up the coffee pod.

"Harry, thank you for the car but don't you think it's…" Emma started to say but Harry cut her off with a hug.

"Emma, it was nothing. It was cheaper then what I bought. In fact it was a bargain. And like Mia here, you needed a car of your own or you'd be stuck driving the big tank we just got or my Camaro. I have a vault full of vintage cars and I have a feeling most of them belong in a museum. We need new modern cars that work and we can drive everyday. The fact that we got cool cars is a plus. It's either your little Porsche for $59,000 or nice sports saloon for about the same price." Harry said.

"Well okay. But it feels like we're taking advantage of you. Living in your house, buying things with your money and now my little sports car." She said.

"You're not taking advantage of me. It's impossible to take advantage of me. I love you guys. Especially you Granger girls. Nothing is too much for your two." Harry said hugging Emma and Hermione.

"I love you too son." Emma said hugging Harry hard.

"Okay, now back to the important questions. Do you want a cappuccino?" Harry asked.

"I'd love one." Emma said with a big smile.

"You got it, Dan? Mia?" Harry asked.

"I'll take a coffee too Harry." Hermione said.

"I'll try one of those monsters you like so much." Dan said.

"Coming right up! I hope you ladies are ready for a day of driving. We have to head to Newark New Jersey to see a gun dealer. Then we have to head out to Lyndhurst New Jersey and find a nice little spot to bury a portkey target so we don't have to take the Lincoln tunnel ever again. Then we have to pop back to The Potter and drive to the bank to pick up our cell phones. Somewhere in between there we should stop off for lunch. Maybe we'll stop at the country club so you guys can take a look around the grounds." Harry said handed out drinks.

"Sounds like fun." Emma said as Miguel came back with a stack of papers and three small plastic boxes with the shrunken cars. Harry filled out the paperwork for three of the cars as Emma and Hermione filled out the forms for their own cars.

When they were done Miguel shook of of their hands and gave them cards with the phone number to the shop. Harry dropped into the passenger seat of Hermione's Jag and by half past ten they were headed south on the Verrazano bridge to Staten Island, before hopping onto the 278 expressway all the way to Newark New Jersey. It took some map work on Harry's part but by a quarter after eleven they pulled up outside a small gun store. Harry and Dan walked in leaving the girls by the cars. The store didn't look like much, just a small gun shop with three counters with a small assortment of handguns, racks on the wall with shotguns and hunting rifles, and shelves full of boxes of ammo. There were three clerks sitting behind the counters working on guns.

"Can I help you?" One of the clerks asked standing up and wiping his hands off on a rag.

"Yes, I'm Harry Steel, Abby Gibson sent me to you for ammo?" Harry asked looking around the store.

"Don't let the small shop fool you. Come on back to the store room. I'm Sam Smith, but everyone calls me Smith on a count of my job." The man said with a southern drawl as he lead them through a door to the back room.

By now Harry really should be getting used to the way the magic world worked outside of the UK. The 'store room' was a huge warehouse full of pallets of ammo in cases and boxes, pallets of gunpowder and primers in big plastic jugs and jars. There were dozens of machines making ammo by the tub full being manned by six men. There were workbenches with about two dozen gunsmiths making custom firearms with magic and tools. The back wall was full of rack with guns.

"Now you were looking to buy ammo. As you can see we manufacture ammo here. What were you looking for?" Smith asked with a smirk.

"We were looking for 9mm ball ammo. We're going to need a lot of it, and we're prepared to buy in bulk for a better deal. We'll be paying cash." Harry said.

"Also 5.56 ball." Dan reminded him.

"Well, we sell 9mm by the box of 50, or a case which is 20 boxes for a 1,000 rounds, or a pallet which is 120 cases for 120,000 rounds. A box is $12.50, a case is $250, and a pallet is $30,000. 5.56 comes in boxes of 20, or a case of 50 boxes for a 1,000 rounds, or a pallet of 120 cases for 120,000 rounds. A box of 5.56 is $7.50, a case is $375, and a pallet is $45,000." Smith said.

"Fuck, ammo is expensive. We just bought a BMW race car for $42,000." Harry muttered.

"Our ammo is a lot cheaper than a comparative name brand. Magic takes care of quality control and I would put my bullets up against Winchester or Remington all day. But those prices are for the nice and neat prepackaged stuff. If you'll take loose ammo in boxes we can do a deal seeing as it saves us on packaging and time to pack it all. For a case of a 1,000 rounds of 9mm I can do $200, and for a pallet of 120 cases I'll do $23,000. That's $.19 a round. At that point I'm almost losing money. I can do a case of 5.56 for $325 and a pallet for $36,000. That's $.30 a round." Smith said.

"What do you think Dan?" Harry asked.

"I was wondering, if we gave you the spent brass, lead, and copper back would we get a discount?" Dan asked.

"You have your own range?" Smith asked.

"We do and the spent brass is filling up a barrel. We have a pile of lead and copper fragments collecting on the floor. If we were to sell you back the spent metal how much could we get back or off our next purchase?" Dan asked.

"We'd have to do the math on how much lead and copper we'd need to get back per 1,000 spent brass casings, but I'd honestly be willing to give you back half the price of a pallet if you buy by the pallet." Smith said.

"We going to need that much ammo?" Harry asked.

"Just your training alone is a more than a case a week. I also want to start you on a harder program and when we get the rest of the group over we're going to be running through ammo like water. We're going to need a case and a half per person per week. How many people are you looking to train?" Dan asked.

"I'd like to train everyone that comes over. Hopefully 10-16 people. That means we're going to run through a pallet of 9mm in what? 6-7 weeks? Less than two months?" Harry asked as his eyes went a bit crossed.

"That's what it's going to take." Dan said.

"Okay, we'll take a pallet of each and we're also going to need a laundry list of magazines. What kind of guns are you making?" Harry asked.

"Custom guns for 3 gun competition and the like. We do custom 2011 race guns, light weight AR15's, and race tuned semi-auto shotguns. We also take custom orders for guns. I think at the moment we're making a run of Sig Sauer p226 X-Fives for a shooting team. You want to take a look at our work?" Smith asked.

"I don't mind if I do, Dan this is going to be an expensive day. Stop me if I start to want too many expensive things." Harry muttered to the older man. Dan laughed and shook his head.

By the time they walked out at a little after noon both women looked bored and hungry. Harry had two pallets of ammo shrunken down to the size of a cake box, and two dozen magazines for each of the types of guns they had. He also had three of the X-Fives, three 2011 race guns, and three skeletonized AR15's. Harry was now $72,000 lighter.

"When are we having lunch?" Emma asked.

"Right now. We'll head to the country club now and then drive over to Lyndhurst. I'll direct Mia, you guys follow." Harry said dropping the bags in the trunk of Hermione's Jag and hopping into her car.

Harry lead them to the country club which was located in Glen Ridge. The drive took about fifteen minutes and by Half past noon they were seated on the terrace overlooking the first tee and last hole. They had a nice lunch before they walked around the grounds for a half hour to check out the place. After lunch they headed to Lyndhurst and drove around a bit until they found a back road that lead into a dead end.

Harry got out, walked a few feet into the grassy area on the side of the road and with small wave of his hand he lifted a small patch of dirt and tossed a gold portkey card into the hole. He dropped the dirt back and stepped on it a few times. He cast a few notice me not spells around the area and ran a few hundred feet away. He pulled out the matching card and with a tap of his wand he was standing back on the same spot again. They shrank the cars and Harry handed out two gold card that said home to Hermione and Emma.

"Sorry Dan, the portkey requires a tap of the wand to activate it. You'll have to share." Harry said holding out his card and Dan took a hold of it.

He tapped it and they landed in the portkey room in the Potter. Emma and Hermione were a few seconds behind. They walked out and saw Steve the morning shift doorman. They greeted him with a smile and wave and expanded the cars out front under the awning. They drove to the bank at just before two Abby was waiting for them in the lobby. She handed them a shopping bag full of small boxes.

"As you requested, 25 magical smartphones. They run off of ambient magic, they are damage proof, water proof, and they are all activated. They are a sequential set of number starting from 2550 to 2575 and the number is on a sticker stuck to the back of each phone. They all have the standard plan plus long distance and unlimited data. $50 a month per phone. I set you up with the lump sum payment option of a one time fee of $30,000 for two years of service plus $500 a phone. Your total was $42,500." She said.

"Thank you Abby, by the way the car shop and the gun stores were great. Thank you again for all your help." Harry said hugging her much to her surprise and delight.

"You're very welcome Harry. You are by far the nicest client I've had in awhile. Usually rich guys are demanding jerks. I'm going to put in a request to handle your account when I can." Abby said.

"Great! I'd much rather work with you." Harry said.

"Oh! Before I forget, do you guys have plans for tonight? Because if you don't then your Neighbor is throwing a gala tonight at seven." Abby said with a smile.

"The museum?" Harry asked.

"Yes, the Natural history museum is opening a new exhibit about dinosaurs. They are hosting an unveiling tonight. It's a cocktail party and dinner. It's a black tie event and tickets are $2,500 a person but you get yearly memberships to the museum and it gets you on the list for a bunch of other formal events." Abby said.

"What do you guys think?" Harry asked with a smile because he knew the girls would want to go.

"I think we should be good neighbors. We're going to need dresses. You two are going to need tuxes." Emma said.

"Great, I thought I was going to have to attend this thing by myself. I can get you five tickets. Girls I know of a dress maker that can fit us in a hour. Harry, my grandfather can he you both fit for tuxedos in a matter of minutes." Abby said.

"I have loads of jewelry in my vault you guys can wear tonight if you want." Harry said.

"Great. I get off work in two hours I'll meet you ladies at this address for dress fittings at four then we'll head to a saloon for full hair and makeup. We should make it back to your apartment just before the start time. We'll toss on our dresses and head across the street to the museum. I still can't believe you guys live next to the museum." Abby said with a shake of her head as she handed Hermione a slip of paper from her little black book.

"That leaves our afternoon free. You want to play a round of golf this afternoon? I think we can just fit it in." Dan asked.

"Sure. We'll get our tuxes and pop over to jersey and drive to the country club." Harry said looking at his watch. It was two o'clock now, if they didn't fuck around too much it should only take them three hours to play a round. That gave them two hours to do what they had to do.

"I'll call my grand dad and tell him you're on your way, and I'll set you up with a 2:45 tee time for two." Abby said.

"You're the best Abby." Harry said leading the group of the bank. Harry took two of the phones out of the bag and handed one to Dan.

"I'm 2525, Dan you're 2526. We'll see you girls back at the house to drop off our tuxes and and get out golf bags." Harry said expanding his black Ferrari and getting in.

"We'll see you there." Hermione said walking to her car.

Dan got in and Harry blasted out of the parking lot headed north east to Little Italy. He made it the two and a half mile trip in ten minutes thanks to side streets and speeding. He pulled into a fire hydrant spot in front of Geno's shop and shrank his car with a wave of his wand. He put it in his bag and they headed into the small shop. Geno was waiting for them and in a matter of minutes they were stripped down to their boxers, and shoved into tuxes. A classic black one button tux with a bow tie for Dan and a very dark blue almost black one button black collar tux with a black silk normal tie for Harry. Geno made a few adjustments to the suits so they fit like a glove and nodded to himself. He had them take off the tuxes, and ten minutes after they walked in into the shop, they were walking out with suits, shirts, ties, and shoes. Harry held out his portkey for the Potter and they were standing in the lobby less than twenty minutes after they left the bank. When they walked into the apartment the girls all looked at them in shock.

"How did you make it back so fast? We just walked in a few minutes ago." Emma asked.

"Harry drives like a stabbed rat and Geno had the two suits ready for us when we walked in. The fit took about five minutes." Dan said as they walked to their rooms to put away their suits and get ready to play a round of golf.

"It's so unfair you men can walk into a shop and walk out a few minutes later with a suit that looks good." Emma said as Dan changed out of his khakis and button up, for looser black golf pants and gray golf shirt.

"Yes it's very unfair indeed." Dan said with a smile as he grabbed his golf bag and shoes.

"You ready to go? We have twenty minutes before our tee time." Harry said walking down the hall with his bag and shoes. He was dressed the same as Dan but he was wearing a green shirt.

"Yeah, let's move. I want to stop off at the in-house barber and have my hair cut after we play. You need a cut too kid." Dan said leading the boy to the front door.

"See you boys later. Have fun on your golf date." Emma said laughing at the two of them.

"She can joke all she wants but she don't understand our love." Harry joked loud enough for Emma to hear as he shut the door. That made her laugh harder.

Harry and Dan took the elevator to the basement garage and Harry held out the portkey to Lyndhurst. In ten seconds they were in New Jersey. Harry expanded his car, shrank their bags and put them in his trunk. They got in and Harry made the six mile trip in less than ten minutes. They arrived at the front door of the country club by 2:35.

"Damn we made good time Kid." Dan said looking at his watch.

"It's the car. It makes you confident. I can see all the way around it and I know it has grip for days. I just point it at corners and it goes." Harry said.

The boys played a round of golf and this time they tried not to mess around too much. They took it seriously and both of them played way better this time. They both shot just under 80 which was a big improvement for Harry. They both stopped off at the club barber and got haircuts. For Dan it was just a quick trim and a shave. For Harry it was a full reshaping of his style. He chopped off most of his hair into a devil may care cut that made him look cool. He also had the barber trim his three day old stubble into a jaw defining beard. When they were all done they headed out to the car, shrank it down and took the portkey back to the Potter right around half past six. They rode the elevator up to the apartment and found a house full of women rushing back and forth between bedrooms in different states of dress.

"Oh good, you two are here. Find a bathroom, take a shower and get dressed." Hermione said wearing a white dress that hung off her neck and left her shoulders and most of her back bare. The dress came all the way down to the floor but had a long slit up right side. Her hair was up and she had a light touch of makeup on including bright red lipstick.

"Yes mama," Harry said with a confident wolfish grin on his face as he looked her up and down. Dan saw the look, shook his head and walked away.

"Like what you see?" She asked with a sexy smirk.

"I do. I love it. It looks like it comes off easy." Harry said slipping up to her and kissing her.

"I like your new haircut, it's sexy." She said running her hands through his hair. As she kissed him harder.

"Hey you two! Less kissing more dressing. And you, I need you to open your vault so we can get to the shiny." Dora said.

She was wearing a black one button tuxedo that was cut to fit her tall statuesque frame but there was no shirt, just a deep neckline that ended at her ribcage and loads of cleavage. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a bun exposing her long neck and and she was wearing very high but sturdy looking heels. She had about the same amount of makeup as Hermione and the same red lipstick.

"God damn sis. You look good too." Harry said nodding.

"Yeah, me and Abby are going to cause quite the commotion tonight. She's my date." Dora said with a smirk.

"Nice, come on, I'll open the vault for you." Harry said leading her to his room at the end of the hall.

Harry opened the vault door and headed into his bathroom to grab a quick shower. By the time he came out of his bathroom in his boxers Dora was just coming out of the vault with a set of diamond studs in her ears and a big diamond necklace made of smaller diamonds that ended in a teardrop diamond that rested on her breast bone above the swell of her bigger than normal breasts.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"Nice." Harry said pulling on his shirt over his vest when Hermione walked into the room and right into the vault with her mom following right behind her.

Emma was wearing a satin black dress with a small v neck that hinted at cleavage without showing any. The dress was tight to the waist and flowed out and down to floor in the back and to the middle of her shins in the font showing off her black high heeled shoes. Her hair was up like her daughters and she had a bit more makeup on. She looked like a movie star walking the red carpet.

"Sorry to barge in Harry, I didn't know you were still changing." Emma said looking away from him as he slipped on his pants.

"It's fine. You look very nice Emma, very classic hollywood actress." Harry said with a smile as he buttoned his pants.

"Thanks Harry." She said with a smile as she walked into the vault.

"Harry, do you have any pocket squares?" Dora asked looking at her jacket pocket.

"Check my closet. Center island the side by the shoes I think." Harry said pulling on his socks and shoes. Dora nodded and headed into his closet.

Harry was tying his tie when Abby walked in wearing a full length black dress with a plunge neckline that stopped just low enough to prove she wasn't wearing a bra. The dress hung on every one of her curves and there was a long slit that went all the way up to her right hip to show off all of her long leg that ended in a very high black spike heeled shoe. Her blonde hair was done up in big curls and pinned in place like a 1950's actress. Like the rest of the ladies she had bright red lipstick and smokey eyes.

"Looking good Abby, Dora is a lucky girl." Harry said pulling on his gun rig and jacket.

"Likewise Harry, very James Bond." Abby said following Emma into the vault.

"Thank you." Harry said slipping his wand into the inside pocket of the jacket made to hold wands. He put on his watch and looked up when Dan walked into his room. That made Harry laugh.

"Do you have any cufflinks? I don't have any and I don't like the metal cuff bars that come with the shirt." Dan asked.

"Check my closet, on the left side of the island top drawer I think. There are about ten sets." Harry said walking to his bedroom door.

He held up his wand and a few seconds later a bottle of Bollinger Brut Special Cuvee came flying into his hand from the kitchen. He chilled the bottle with a spell and conjured six glasses. He popped the top as people started coming out of side rooms and poured six glasses killing the bottle. He handed out glasses and that's when they all realized they were all in the room.

"To our first fancy ass party. May it be the first of many." Harry said clinking glasses with everyone.

"Here here!" Dan said.

"Okay, now let's get moving because it's seven and we have to walk." Dora said looking at her small watch.

That started a scramble to the door. The girls got their jackets on, found their handbags, and did one last check of hair and makeup. Harry was the last one out and he locked the door behind him. When they walked out the front doors they could see the lights and the gathering of photographers on the red carpet the three couples walked the block and a half in the nice evening air to the front entrance. They made their way through the line of reporters with Abby handling the questions. They checked in at the front desk and Abby led them off to the side following the rope line to a red carpet in front of a wall wrapped in blue with the museum logo repeated as a pattern and another gauntlet of photographers. Harry did his best to smile and stand next to Hermione who looked like she belonged there.

At this point Harry could barely see thanks to all the flashbulbs. They just kept following Abby. She lead them to a small reception area where they were serving champaign. Slowly his eyesight came back to him and got a chance to look around the large entry full of dinosaur bones and celebrities.

"Abby do you think it's okay to have our pictures taken." Harry asked but she just waved him off and pointed to the room around them. Half the people from TV and Movies were there that night. They were all standing in little groups talking to each other. Abby laughed at their wide eyed looks.

"No one is going to print your pictures. You're cute, but not George Clooney cute. Now mingle with the pretty people, it's what you paid for. Just walk up to them, say you like their work, and if they talk to you, you know they're cool. I'd start with the cast of SNL, they're easier to talk to because they're comics." Abby said before waving at someone they thought they knew from the fashion world and walking off with Dora following her.

"I guess we circulate." Harry said with a shrug.

"I guess so." Hermione said leading him off.

What followed was a blur handshakes, smiles, and small talk. Later when they thought about that night they would remember small snippets of conversations with people from tv. They eat a passable dinner under a blue whale. After that there was an unveiling of a big dinosaur. After that a small band started playing and people mingled again for a while before they started leaving. By half past eleven when Abby rounded them up most of the people were gone. She lead them to the coat check and then out into the cold night air. The walk was nice and everyone laughed and talked about meeting famous people. By the time they walked into the Lobby of the Potter building they were ready for bed. Mike greeted them with a smile and they spent a few minutes talking to him about the dinner while the overnight valet brought Abby's car up.

"You sure you can drive?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine Harry, I'm stone sober at this point and I don't have too far to go. I only live a few miles from here. Oh before I forget. You better take these back." Abby said handing him the diamond necklace and earrings she was wearing as she slipped into her Maserati.

"Okay, goodnight, and thanks for getting us tickets for tonight's event." Harry said.

"Any time Harry. Like I said before, I'd rather hang out with you guys then the boring rich jerks I normally deal with." She said before she drove away.

The group headed up to the apartment and everyone headed for bed. As the group made its way down the hall it got smaller until Harry led Hermione into the master suite. When they were inside their room Hermione attacked his mouth. She stripped off most of Harry's suit as they moved further into the room still attaches at the mouth. By the time they made it to the bed Harry was down to socks, open shirt, dragon hide vest, his gun rig, and boxers. He pulled back for a minute to ditch most of that leaving him in his boxers.

Hermione took off the very expensive jewel encrusted earrings and necklace she was wearing and set them on the bedside table before she reached behind her neck and undid the button that held the top of her dress in place she let the top fall down exposing her naked breasts making Harry groan. She pushed the dress off her hips leaving her in little white knickers and white pumps. She pushed him onto the bed and made sure he was watching as she turned around and pushed her little white thong down. She smirked when she heard him mutter 'oh god'. She stepped out of her knickers and approached the bed in nothing but her white pumps and a sexy smirk.

Sunday, the next morning, the alarm clock rang at half past six and Harry hit it with a wandless silencing spell before rolling over and going back to sleep holding his girl. Harry woke up again when someone knocked on the bedroom door. He rolled over and saw it was half past nine. He rolled out of bed summoned a pair of track pants from his closet, put them on, and rushed to the door as they knocked again. It was Emma.

"Hey, we're all up and about to have breakfast. I wanted to check on you guys." She said looking past him to see clothes all over the floor. She looked back at him and smiled a knowing smile.

"Right, I'll go get Hermione up and we'll be right there." Harry said rubbing his neck, it itched. What he didn't know was he had three long scratches down his neck.

"Right. You should have Hermione look at that. We'll wait for you." Emma said holding in her laugh until she turned around. Harry shrugged and walked back to the bed where Hermione was sitting up and stretching.

"Breakfast?" She asked.

"Yeah, what's on my neck?" Harry asked.

"Oh Harry, I got you good. It's these nails from the saloon. They're sharp." She said grabbing her wand of the nightstand and healing his neck, his back, and head.

"Yeah, you were wild last night." Harry said with a goofy grin thinking about the night before. In the last few nights they had together, they were so excited to get to the main event they rounded second base, and ran straight for home plate. Last night they tried third base and Harry figured out he had a talent for it.

"Yes, it was very nice. We're going to have to try that again." Hermione said with a matching grin.

"Well not right now, we need to head to breakfast." Harry said grabbing the t-shirt off the chair and pulling it on.

Hermione summoned his dress shirt from the night before and a pair of shorts from her closet. They both got dressed and headed out to the kitchen. When they got there the elder Grangers and Dora all had smirks on their faces. Harry got their plates and sat at the counter trying to keep it cool and not blush, there was nothing to blush about. Hermione was doing better. She ignored the smirks and ate with a grin of her own.

"I see you healed the scratches." Emma said breaking the silence.

"Yes, it's a simple spell, one we're going to go over soon I think." Hermione said.

"Good, then I can heal your father's back as well. These nails the salon put on are sharp." Emma said.

"I wouldn't know." Dora said with a pout breaking the attention and making everyone laugh.

"What are we doing today?" Dan asked.

"We're hanging out around the house. I want to watch my big ass projector and play some video games. Then I'll head out to a store and pick up everything we need to grill for a late lunch. It's been awhile since I've cooked and I'm starting to get the bug for it. Later we have a Dragon's game. They're playing the Miami Sand Sharks I think. Then we all have to get to bed early tonight, we have a big day tomorrow. Dora's heading over to Paris to get our friends out. Remember, if you run into trouble you call us. Dan and I are going to be standing by waiting in the garage for most of the morning, locked and loaded and looking for a fight. We can portkey right to you from down there." Harry said.

"I know, but Mum thinks we're still in the clear. The order of the fried turkey has been running around Paris dodging the french Aurors running down leads trying to find you and Hermione. I honestly think our cover can hold up for a few more weeks before they figure something is up. In fact I might try to get Neville's folks out tomorrow if I think we're clear. Can I take the portkey to london with me tomorrow?" Dora asked.

"Sure, you can have anything you want or need. Like I said it's not a game we're playing. If things even feel like they're going sideways pull out. We'll set something else up. Remember we have time and resources on our side. The Order of the fried turkey might be running around France like chickens with their heads cut off at the moment, but if the old man catches wind of the play he'll make a move to stop it. Is Neville going to go through the renaming process like I did?" Harry asked.

"He is. It's happening tonight. He'll be brought to the bank tonight and the same two healers will kill him and bring him back. Augusta has already signed the paperwork to hand over the house to him. He is, at the moment the head of his house, and when he dies, and gets reborn he will get rid of the marriage contract and his old will just like you did. In fact the whole group is going to spend the night at the bank for security's sake. They will leave from the bank out a side door to muggle London and from there my dad is going to get them on the 9:15 train to Paris. As soon as the train hits the chunnel the old man has no power over anything. In fact the bank will have a security team at both the London and Paris stations. I'll make the pick up at noon when the train get to Paris, I'll collect everyone off to the side, check them for tracking charms, and hand them a portkey. When they are safely away I'll pop over to London and take the temperature of the situation and see how things look. I can even check in with the fried turkey club through Shack and see what's going on. I will have my vest on and I will be armed. I'll also have the portkey and my phone. If shit hits the fan I'll pop out to a safe place and portkey back. I might also look in on Frank Martin and see if he has more stock of Dragon hide. He told me some more vests were going to fall off the back of a truck soon." Dora said.

"Okay. As long as we're on the same page and we know what's supposed to be going on we can keep tabs on the situation as it unfolds." Harry said.

"On our end Mom and I are going to take everyone to lunch down the street from the bank, then we're going to get them all in the beast and take them to David Wandsmith's shop and get them fitted for new wands. By the time we're done with that we should be getting back here you should be back and we'll take it from there." Hermione said.

"Okay then it sounds like we're all set. Now if you'll excuse me, I have very important video games that need to be played." Harry said standing up and setting his empty plate on the serving tray where it vanished. He walked out of the room as they laughed at him.

Harry grabbed a quick shower, put on a new tracksuit, t-shirt, vest, and gun rig. He headed into the movie room and booted up the system. For the next three hours he got his ass handed to him by ten year olds in Call Of Duty: Black Ops III. By that point it was just before noon. He announced he was heading to the store and Emma tagged along. They rode down to the basement in a contented silence.

"You think the Camaro's trunk and back seat are big enough for food shopping or should we take the beast?" Harry asked looking at the line of cars.

"Should be fine, what do you plan on getting?" Emma asked.

"Stuff for lunch, maybe a few meals in the coming week, we also need essentials like beer, soda, chirps, biscuits, also the store is right down the street from the electronic store Dan and I went to a few days ago. I remember he had mini fridges with expansion charms on the inside. I want to get one for each room. That walk to the kitchen is way too long for water. I also want to get ten cases of water. Maybe we should take the beast. In fact you'll be driving it around tomorrow you drive." Harry said waving at the big truck.

"I do need to get used to it. It's so much bigger than the little BMW X1 crossover I had." Emma said climbing up into the beast.

The two of them headed out in search of food and beverages. They ended up at the Trader Joe's on Broadway and 72nd. They each grabbed a cart and went aisle by aisle tossing things into the cart. They both figured out two carts wasn't going to cut it so Emma kept those first two carts and Harry ran back to the front of the store for two more. The house needed everything from salt and pepper, to eggs and milk.

By the time they got to the checkout line they had five carts. One cart was just packs of water bottles, cases of Coke, and cases of Monster stacked precariously high. It took a while to ring it all up and bag it. They pushed their carts out to the Beast and Harry found a cool compartment in the back under the floor. It was a hugely expanded heavy plastic bin that managed to hold almost everything they bought. Emma made sure the bread and eggs were at the top of the bin and Harry shut it. He finished packing the rest of the bags into the trunk and they headed for the electronic store. Harry walked into the store and fifteen minutes he came out with a small bag with nine mini fridges and a full sized stand up fridge for the little field house on the roof.

They made it back to the Potter by half past one. Harry conjured a second bin and packed the rest of the bags inside. He then had Emma float the lighter one and he floated the heavier one onto the elevator. They unpacked all the bags and Harry filled the bin with things he would need for lunch. He headed up to the roof with Dan. A few spells got the brick grill clean and the charcoal hot and ready to cook. Harry had Dan brush the grill down with oil as he seasoned the meat. Soon they had chicken breasts and haddock fillets on the grill as he diced up tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and a few chillies for salsa. He thin sliced an avocado and some lettuce. He dumped a big can of black beans into a conjured sauce pan and set it on the grill he cooked and mashed the beans and added hot sauce and shredded cheese to them before he dumped them into a bowl and vanished the pot with a wave of his wand.

At this point he turned the meat and fish moving it off to the side so he could heat up two dozen taco shells. Dan stood back and was mildly shocked the boy could cook like this. He's knife skills were very good and he could multi task, which was something Dan could not do. The girls came up with a bucket full of ice cold beers. They stood around and watch Harry cook as they talked. Harry pulled the meat and fish off the grill, and cut it into strips. Which he transferred onto platters. He hit it all with fresh lime one more time and handed it off to Emma to take to the gazebo along with the bowl of salsa, the bowl with the beans, and the plate of garnish. He cleaned the grill and tossed five ears of corn on the grill and hit the charcoal with another fire spell to bring up the heat. In less than five minutes he had a bowl of fire roasted corn. He brought it to the table and they had lunch.

"You are a really good cook Harry." Hermione said sounding shocked. She had plowed through three fish tacos and was looking at a fourth.

"Don't sound so shocked, I was forced to cook for my horrible family from the time I could see over the stove." Harry said.

"I'm just saying, you'd think those skills would transfer over to potions brewing." Hermione said.

"Hey! I'm good at potions, Snape is a shit teacher. When he wasn't breathing down my neck he was sabotaging my work. Why do you think I stopped working with you? I didn't want to bring down your grade in the class." Harry said.

"What else can you make Harry? Do you bake?" Emma asked.

"I can bake breads and the like but I have no feel for cakes and pies. I'm a cook not a baker. I make a good pot roast, and fish and chips, but I kill at breakfast foods. I make the best blueberry pancakes and my steak and cheese omelets are greasy salty heaven. Crispy bacon, buttermilk waffles, black pudding." Harry said getting lost in the thought of breakfast.

"Great, now I'm hungry again and I just finished eating." Dora said before she burped. "Sorry." She said.

"Don't be, I wish I could. I had one taco too many." Emma said rubbing her noticeable belly.

"The secret to good grilling is don't mess with your food. Put it on and leave it alone." Harry said finishing his beer.

"Well you can grill from now on. I thought I could grill, but after watching you work I know I'm an amature." Dan said.

"Sounds good to me, now who's up for some horseshoes?" Harry asked and he got a bunch of groans in reply.

They spent the next three hours lounging around the house watching tv or in Harry and Dan's case setting up all the little mini fridges in each room. Harry turned the old TV cabinets in each room into a mini bar to house the fridges and also ice buckets. He would add glasses and bottles of booze to each room as well as a magical tea set. He added it to the list if thing to get.

They all got their Dragon's jerseys on and met Mike and Walter in the lobby. Make had his daughter Maddy who was ten and Steve's boy Tim who was nine. Walter had his two grandsons Billy who was twelve and Justin who was ten. Harry expanded the portkey card to the size of notebook paper and held it out for everyone to grab onto. He tapped it and in ten seconds they were standing on the side of the road in New Jersey. Harry expanded the Beast and Emma helped the two men get the kids strapped in for the twenty minute drive to the stadium. They parked the Beast in the VIP parking lot and walked into the side entrance. They met Becky again and she lead them to the new box. It was right across the way from the Bank's box and the kids were wide eyed the whole time. Mike and Walter were both a bit shocked as well.

"Becky, as you can see we have a lot of hungry mouths to feed tonight. And it's two hours before tips off. We're going to need the nacho platter, the soft pretzel platter, the six foot sub, the Hotdog cart, and a large cheese pizza. Also bring us the ice chest of beer and pitcher of margaritas. We're also going to need a few pitchers of soda, and six jerseys. Also can we have six signed quaffles at the end of the game? Put it all on the bill." Harry said.

"I'll have everything brought up asap." Becky said with a big grin as she watched the kids stare in wonder at the field and the two teams flying around before the game. A few minutes later she came back with six jerseys and Harry got the kids attention.

"Okay, Rules of the box. One, you wear your Dragon's jersey at all times. Two, you route for the dragons no matter what, and three, we eat all the junk food until we feel sick!" Harry said handing out jerseys and shrinking them to fit.

"Yes sir!" Billy said tossing off a salute.

"Now those are rules I can live by." His ten year old brother said nodding.

"Good, let the gluttony begin!" Harry said as carts were pushed into the room full of food.

"My ex-wife is going to kill me." Mike said watching his daughter take a souvenir sized cup of soda from Harry and start sucking it down.

"I'm the grandpa, I'm expected to give my grandsons junk food and sugar." Walter said watching Emma and Harry play mom to the kids filling their plates with hot dogs and nachos.

"It will be fine, they'll crash in an hour and be calm by the start of the game." Dan said handing out beers to the men. Dan flipped on the tv and changed channels until he found the Chicago Shadow Cats vs the New Orleans Voodoo quidditch game on ESPN Magic2. The Cat's scored and Tim cheered for a second before he looked up at Harry.

"Sorry." Tim said and Harry was confused for a second then it hit him.

"It's cool. I have a house in Chicago. So we can add the cats to the list of approved teams to cheer for." Harry said patting the boy on the back and sitting with the kids on the couch he pulled the table closer so they could set their plates down. They all sat and watched the game and shoved food in their faces.

"He's going to make a good father one day." Emma said smiling at Harry sitting with the kids and holding important conversation with them on topics like the hotness of the Cat's front line of chasers, or the stretchiness of good pizza cheese, if tomato sauce counts as a fruit paste, and the top speed of the firebolt broom vs the new Ford Thunderbolt Broom.

"I know. It's mostly because he's still ten years old on the inside." Hermione said.

"He didn't get much chance to grown up." Dora said.

"No, he went from abused little boy to killer of darklords and defence teachers and leader of school kids." Hermione said.

They watched the Cats kill the Voodoo 106 to 68 in a bad blow out before the Dragons lost to the sand Sharks 98 to 85. Watching the two games back to back Harry understood the difference between the best team in the league, the Cats, an okay team, like the Dragons, and a shit team, like the Voodoo. Whereas the Dragons slowed down at the end of the game and the Voodoo looked almost dead the Cats were ready to play two more periods. The Cat's keeper was mostly light out through the first half and only when the Voodoo got weak and started to trail off did the Cat's keeper let off the gas and let a few shots through only blocking the easy stuff. Not that it mattered at that point, the Cats were up by 50 points and still going strong. The Dragons had enough in the tank for three quarters of tough play but by the end they were dying to sit down.

Towards the end of the game Becky came by with the bill, Harry handed her his black card and a seven hundred dollar tip. Becky brought in a cart of with six signed quaffles. When Harry handed them out to his guests the kids freaked out. Mike and Walter were very excited as well. They headed out to the Beast where Harry shrank the car and everyone that had a portkey to the Potter building took a few people with them back home. By the time they headed up to the apartment it was just a quarter past nine. This was way better then driving back in traffic.

Harry spent an hour at the range working his way through ten regular 30 round magazines in his MP5k. He worked on sighting it in and trigger control. Then he worked on bringing it up on target from concealment under a coat hanging on the shoulder sling. When he had that down he moved onto firing a few shots from the MP5k, dropping it and letting it fall away on the sling as he drew his Sig p226 and engaging targets with his pistol. When he was all done he checked his loaded mags and made sure he had everything in his bag ready to go.

When he walked into his room he saw Hermione sitting in bed reading. Harry set his bag on the chair by the bed with the full dragon hide armor suit next to along with black track pants, a black athletic t-shirt, and his black trainers. He set his gun rig next to the bag and put his gun and wand on the table next to his glasses which he hadn't needed to wear in the last two days. Hermione saw all of this and didn't say anything. She just set her book down and checked to make sure her bag was close by and her gun was on the bedside table. Harry took a quick shower and came to bed in black under armor compression shorts and socks.

"You got a bad feeling?" She half asked half said.

"It could be something I ate." Harry said with a shrug.

"Okay. Do you think I should tell my dad or Dora?" Hermione asked.

"No, it's not a premonition or anything. It's nerves before the big game I think. The gut instinct that says life can't be this good without something bad happening. It will pass. I don't want Dora doubting her plan, and I don't want to disrupt Dan's sleep if we do run into a problem I want him fresh." Harry said laying down and staring up at the dark green canopy of the bed.

"But you're going to be up half the night worrying?" Hermione again half asked and half said.

"I'm going to try not to. I'm going to work on my breathing and calming my nerves. I need you to sleep as well. You're our emergency healer and back up for now. The next time we go back to the island of misfit magicals we're going to have Doc Carter standing by and half the DA suited and booted and ready to roll. When we get more folks out we'll have more people on standby." Harry said in a voice that was way too calm for what he was saying.

"Harry, promise me you'll look after yourself and my dad tomorrow?" Hermione asked just above a whisper.

"Even if I have to kill half the magicals in London to do it. The same number of us that go there are coming back, hopefully with more friends. For all we know, everything is fine and tomorrow will go off without a hitch." Harry said confidently.

"Right, Hopefully." Hermione agreed slipping out of bed.

She hit herself with a cleaning charm and walked into her closet. She came out in a sports bra, compression shorts, and socks. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail at the base of her neck. She pulled her armor out of her bag and laid it out on the chair like Harry and slipped into bed.

"You got a bad feeling?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"No, but you do and you're gut is never wrong. Better to be safe than sorry." She said kissing him and turning off her lamp.

She rolled over and Harry cuddled up to her back holding her to his chest. It took a while for them to fall asleep that night. an hour later across the pond Luna Lovegood shot out of her sleep on a couch in the bank with a start waking Susan and Amelia up. The three women were sharing an office for the night in preparation for the trip out tomorrow.

"They're outside the bank. We're surrounded." She said.

"Who's here? The Order? The Death Eaters?" Amelia asked.

"Yes." Luna said shaking as she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged herself.

Cliff Hangers Suck! I know. But this chapter was getting way to long and the fight scene would add another half chapter to this. Also you should know i really hate killing off characters. It's a cheap hook in my opinion. So relax, the next chapter will go up in a few days. after that i'll be posting one chapter a week. we've burned through the set up, now comes the fun part.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: This is the last double chapter I'm putting out. From now on I'll be posting one chapter a week on Monday. There is not going to be a lot of fat on this story from here on out. Not every chapter is going to have gun battles but things will happen every chapter.

On a lighter note, I am still getting reviews and PMs from people confused about the timeline. I've started deleting the guest reviews but it's still a thing. So for the last time. The year is 2015. Harry was born in 2000. His parents went to school in the early 90's. I know this is different than the books. I time jumped because I didn't want to look up what movie was playing in the summer of 1996.

Harry was woken up by pounding on the bedroom door. He was out of bed like a shot and to door before Hermione even register the first knock. It was Dora, she was wearing men's boxer shorts and a Daft Punk t-shirt. She was on the phone and Dan was stumbling out into the hallway half asleep in his boxers looking confused. Harry checked his watch and saw it was half past eleven. He did the math in his head. It was half past four in the morning in the UK. That was when the Death Eaters liked to attack.

"What's going on?" Harry asked ready for a fight.

"Luna had a vision. The DE's are going to attack the bank to rob the gold storage vault and kill the blood traitors they somehow know are in the bank and the Order is waiting at the back door to muggle London to capture the ones that get away. This is all coming to a head in the next fifteen minutes. We have to move now." She said.

"Right. I can be ready to roll in two minutes. Go toss on your armor. You too Dan, it's going down now. We need to pop over and help." Harry said rushing back into his room and pulling on the dragon hide pants and vest. They both vanished like the vest leaving him still in his boxers. He pulled on his t-shirt, track pants, and gun rig. He slung his MP5k over his shoulder and his bag over the other shoulder before pulled on the dragon hide jacket which didn't vanish. He jammed on his trainers and stuck his gun in the gun rig and his wand in the inside pocket of his jacket. He pulled on his glasses and looked over at Hermione who was following his lead and was just pulling on her jacket.

"I need you you stay back for now, we're going to keep an open line with our phones and the little Bluetooth ear pieces that came with our phones. If I call for a medic I'll drop a portkey card on the floor and you pop over. It's important that nothing happens to you." Harry said leading her out of their room.

"Why? Because we're together now, and you think you have to protect me?" She asked sounding hurt and angry.

"No, because if something happens to any of us you're the only one that can heal us. You're more valuable to the group as a healer right now. If one of us takes a curse to the face you're the only one that can fix it. I'm for shit when it comes to healing and Dora is just as bad." Harry said.

"Right." Hermione said feeling dumb for questioning Harry at that moment.

"Have Emma act as your nurse and backup. Get her ready to go, make sure she has her armor on and her gun ready. Here keep this on you, it's the portkey I'll drop for you two to come over if we call for you. Hang out in the parking garage for now. I love you." Harry said pulling her into an intense but quick kiss as they met Dan and Dora in the hall and they rushed out of the front door. They rode the elevator to the basement and Harry shrank and grabbed the Beast which confused Dan and Dora.

"In case we need cover. I can always expand it in the alley and we can use it as a wall." Harry said pulling out the portkey to the London branch of Gringotts.

"Good call." Dan said taking a hold of the portkey the same time Dora did. Harry tapped the portkey with his wand and they flew through the air for twenty seconds and landed in a small stone room. Harry and Dan had their guns up the second they landed.

"Where are we?" Harry asked walking to the door. It opened when he got there and a goblin stuck his head in.

"Good you got here quick. Come on!" He said leading them out of the room into a dark muggle bank and out the front doors. Harry looked around and felt lost for a second before he saw the Leaky cauldron down the street. This must be the Goblin's muggle bank where they hold meeting outside Magical London.

"Let's move. They are waiting for us to lock down the bank." The goblin said activating a glamour making him look like a short fat white man in a gray suit. They ran up the block and into the tavern. It was empty and Sam the night barman was slumped over the bar dead. They ran out the back door and to the entryway which was left open. They saw a group of sixteen Death Eaters in full black robes and white masks walking up the alley to the bank. With them they had three bodies floating along. Frank, Alice, and Augusta Longbottom.

"Dora, tell your mum to have the goblins lock down the bank. It's going down now. Then hang up. Dan, what's the best option tactically to kill everyone of these fuckers without alerting them too soon?" Harry asked.

"We hide under our cloaks and take out the guys in the back. It looks like they are posting men ever hundred feet or so up the alley. Get close, hit them with a three round burst in the face and keep moving. We'll work our way forwards up the alley nice and slow to not draw attention to ourselves. They will figure it out at some point but with the silent guns and the cloaks we can get all of them if we keep moving between shots." Dan said.

"Good. Dora, did you get all that?" Harry asked putting in his small earpiece.

"Yeah. I got it." She said.

"Good, as soon as we got all of them call the bank and get the people out through the cauldron. Take this portkey to New jersey, and drive the group to the apartment. Or to Doc Carter's office if we have wounded. We'll make our way around the bank and get eyes on the Order. I want to see which ones are willing to kidnap us for the old man. If he's there then we'll pop right to Paris and drive out of the city before we pop back to the states. I have my little Ferrari with me. I can make it to Bordeaux in a few hours and pop back. We need more portkeys in the US. Is everyone ready?" Harry asked linking their phones with the predownloaded app on the phones.

"Ready." Dora said pulling on her cloak and vanishing.

"Ready." Dan said following her lead and vanishing under his cloak.

"I read you Harry. We're standing by." Hermione said over the ear piece.

"Good. Let's go. You and me on the left Dora, Dan you're on the right." Harry said leading the group through the entrance.

Harry ghosted up the alley hugging the shadows cast by the buildings on the left side. Harry slipped up behind a Death Eater standing by the apothecary. He swung his gun up and hit the man in the back of the head with a three round burst destroying the man's face and his mask. Harry grabbed him as he fell and lowered him to the ground. A part of his brain, the part that was still a boy, told him that he just killed a man. The rest of his brain gave a sigh and a head shake and said one word in reply. "So" and Harry shrugged. It wasn't the first man he killed. That would be his first year defense teacher. It wasn't going to be the last. Besides, it was a Death Eater, did that really even count as a man? It was more like a rabid dog. Harry blinked and shut all that out of his head.

Harry looked over and saw another DE's face explode and he was lowered to the ground. Harry continued up the alley as the pack of DE's made it to the front of the bank. He slipped up behind a second watchmen and repeated his earlier performance. The man across the street had just enough time to see his friend fall before his face exploded and he was lowered to the pavement. They headed up the alley and repeated the process one more time cutting the number of targets from sixteen to ten. At that moment Harry heard Snape over a voice amplification spell.

"Come out and face us blood traitors! We have your Blood Traitor grandmother and your two vegetable parents!" Snape called out.

Harry saw red at that moment, but he pushed it down. He looked around the alley, the situation and everything fell into place in his mind. The old man set this whole thing up. This wasn't a Death Eater gathering. This was a show for the people inside the bank. The group was being lead by Snape. And the only fools dumb enough to follow Snape... Harry lifted the mask off the man he just killed and saw Vincent Crabbe. He felt sick to his stomach for a second before he lifted the boys left sleeve and saw the dark mark. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and took a deep breath to recenter himself. Nothing changed, these were still marked death eaters. Just young and foolish ones. Just because the rabid dog was a puppy didn't change the fact that he was foaming from the mouth.

"What's going on Harry, why did you stop?" Dan asked.

"I had to check a hunch. This is a show. Smoke and mirrors. Nothing more. We're not facing trained killers. This are our bad seed schoolmates. Hitler Youth. We're going to approach the group and on my say so I want us to light these fuckers up. They are not going to know we're here. Watch out for the hostages they have. Those are friendlies." Harry said.

"Copy that. I'll be standing by the book store." Dan said.

"I heard you Harry. I'll take the doorway to the pet shop.

"Come on out you fat little squib." Snape said casting the cruciatus on Augusta and making her scream.

"I'll take the middle. We don't have to go full auto but the faster they die?" Harry said leaving the thought hanging in the air as he made his way up the alley right up the middle. When he got in line with the book and pet stores he brought his gun up and sighted in on Snape's head from fifteen feet away.

"In position." Dan said.

"Me too." Dora said.

"Go." Harry said letting off a three round burst that hit Snape in the face spinning the man around and dropping him like a sack of hammers.

Like an avalanche the firefight started very quickly and lasted only a few short but violent seconds. Harry just went back to his training. He sighted n on a target's head, squeezed off a three round burst that turned heads into bloody messes and moved on to the next target. By in that time the last Death Eater fell a few seconds later Harry killed four more people as Dora got two and Dan finished off the last three. None of the death eaters got a good spell off. It happened so fast half the Death Eaters didn't know what happened. In a way, it was merciful, one second they were cheering on the torture of an old woman and the next they were just gone. All of these thoughts ran through Harry's head as he ran up to the bank and pounded on the door.

"It's Harry Steel, open this door!" Harry called out.

The door opened and he saw four goblins in battle armor with axes standing in the lobby. He also was Neville, Susan, and Luna standing behind Andy, Ted, Odd, and Amelia. They all had their wands up and panicked, pained looks on their faces.

"Let's go now! It's time to get out of here! Dora get clear of the city and get out." Harry said dropping his cloak hood and waving them out. The group all but ran out of the bank, and over to Dora who was floating the three unconscious Longbottoms. Amelia, Andy and Odd took over the flotation spells.

"Go! We'll check the back and be right behind you." Harry said turning around and tossing his sister the Beast.

"Make sure he gets clear." Dora told Dan before leading the group away. They ran back up the alley heading for the tavern and the muggle world beyond it. Harry watched them go before he turned back to the goblins standing in the doorway.

"Where does the back door let out?" Harry asked.

"Into an alley on Greek street by the corner of Old Compton street." The goblin said.

"Right, lock the door and call the aurors in a few minutes. Tell them there was a disturbance in the alley and you locked down the bank. You didn't see anything." Harry said before he ran for the Cauldron with Dan hot on hos heels. As they ran Harry summoned all the spent brass shell casings into his bag.

"Do you know where the back door is?" Harry asked Dan as they headed for the tavern.

"Yes, I think I can find it." Dan said.

"Good, you drive." Harry said rushing out the front doors of the magical tavern and expanding his little black Ferrari.

Harry saw the Beast flying up the street before it hung a right and vanish from sight. He hopped into the passenger seat of his car and Dan slipped in behind the wheel. Dan started the car and speed down the street the opposite direction of the Beast before hanging a left onto Manette Street. He took the street up the block to Greek street and Harry waved for him to stop. Harry hopped out the car and ran to the corner. He looked down the street and saw two men he didn't know the names of but he knew they belonged to the Order. They were standing on the corner at the other end of the block. He was about to advance down the street with his gun up when he saw the old man walk out of the alley up the block. Harry waved for Dan to get out of the car. He shrank it and summoned it. Dan ran over and Harry pulled out his HK416 rifle.

"I need you to Shoot that motherfucker in the Head. Then grab this portkey so we can get the fuck out of here." Harry said handing the rifle to Dan and pointing. Harry pulled out the portkey and held it out with his left hand. He drew his wand with his right hand and waited.

Dan used the corner of the building to steady the rifle. With iron sights, and a short 11 inch barrel, at a distance of three hundred feet, in the dark, Dan knew the odds of getting a head shot were slim. The old man's head looked like a dot at this distance. He moved his point of aim down and dropped the sector switch to full auto. He pulled his cloak hood up, braced the gun, and whistled. Dan watched as Dumbledore turned and looked right at his direction. Dan held down the trigger and emptied about thirty rounds into the old man's chest in a three second burst. He saw a flash of blue as the first dozen or so rounds hit some sort of shield but the last dozen rounds went through the shield as it was overloaded by the overwhelming power of the volley. As if in slow motion the old man fell back covered in blood as his chest was tore open from the hailstorm of bullets. Dan turned and grabbed the gold card as Harry tapped it with his wand. They were standing in Frank Martin's bar a few seconds later. The bar was empty at this time of night. Harry saw one of the men that worked in the backroom standing behind the bar.

"We're being followed, if anyone asks we ran out the front door." Harry said slipping into the back storage room and into the back workroom beyond that. He saw two men brewing potions.

"Can I help you?" One of the men asked in heavy accented english.

"Yes, is Frank around?" Harry asked.

"I can get him." the man said.

"Please do. I have Euros, Dollars, and Galleons and we're looking to buy. We also want to thank Frank for letting us use his bar for our portkey location." Harry said watching the enchanted mirror on the wall by the door which was linked to the mirror behind the bar.

"I will get Frank, have a seat." The man said walking out a back door. Hermione chimed in at that moment.

"Dad, do you think you managed to kill Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure. I know I shot him at least ten times in the chest with 5.56 Rounds. But the first fifteen or so rounds hit a shield. He must wear something that blocks bullets. We need to get something like that." Dan said handing the rifle back to Harry and changing the mag in his MP5k. Harry put away the assault rifle and changed mags like Dan. Frank walked into the workroom half asleep wearing a bathrobe and looking pissed off. Harry pull out his case and tossed Frank a pack of $10,000 in hundred dollar bills before he could even say anything.

"For using your bar as a portkey location. We're being followed by UK wizards." Harry said. As he finished talking Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and three other men in red auror robes showed up in the bar.

"What have you brought into my Bar?" Frank asked.

"We went to rescue a group of our friends and family, we killed a bunch of Death Eaters and we managed to get a shot at Dumbledore. So we took it. Look you see this case? I plan on buying a bunch of your stock at an inconvenience mark up if you can get rid of those fools." Harry said showing him the case.

"Right." Frank said with a smirk as he walked out the door. They saw him walk out the door looking pissed off on the mirror.

"What is going on!?" Frank yelled.

"We are pursuing assassins that tried to kill a head of state!" Shack said showing his Auror shield.

"Okay. Well my overnight guy said four men dressed in black robes with hoods up landed in my bar and ran off. That was about five minutes ago." Frank said.

"Did you happen to see a face?" Shack asked as the three aurors ran out the front door.

"No. They had hoods up. Now you better get out of here, I called the French Aurors a minute ago and they should be here any minute. I know you people have no right to be here in our country so you better leave while you can." Frank said.

"Thanks for the heads up. For your trouble." Shack said slapping a gold Galleon on the bar as they ran out the front door.

"Bunch of morons. Cheap morons at that." Frank said shaking his head as he walked into the back room.

"We saw, thanks Frank. Now Dora said you were going to get another shipment of vest. We'll take everything you have. We'll also need a dozen more of these little MP5ks. Also if we got you a bunch of guns could you add the enchantments to them, if so how much would you charge for that?" Harry asked. Dan and Frank both smiled. Harry was still on an adrenaline high from the gun fight and he was talking fast.

"I have 15 vests right now. I can get more in two weeks. Maybe ten days if I pulls some some strings. I also have that many guns ready to go. As for the enchantment work, it would depend on the gun. Do you have one?" Frank asked waving one of his men over.

"I do. I'm looking to get about twenty of these enchanted for now. Maybe more later." Harry said handing over the custom hand made Sig Sauer p226 X-Five he got from Smith's shop. The other man took the gun, stripped it, and looked it over, he cast a few spells and nodded telling Frank something in French. Frank nodded.

"We can do it for 40 galloens a gun for Stainless steel guns like that." Frank said.

"Perfect. We'll give you half now and drop the guns off to you some time in the next few days with the other half of the payment." Harry said.

It took fifteen minutes to box everything up and it ended up costing Harry $350,000. Frank let them out the back door into an alley. As they walked out of the shop Harry got a call from Hermione.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Harry, Augusta didn't make it. The combination of multiple stunners, the abuse of getting her to the alley, and the short time she was put under the pain curse caused her to die in transport. She was dead on arrival. Dora tried to restart her heart a few times but it didn't work. Amelia tried a few field medic spells but it was no use." Hermione said in a voice thick with tears.

"I see." Harry said as the guilt of her death dropped onto his shoulders.

"There was nothing you could have done Harry, her fate was sealed the second they hit her with that many stunners. You saw what that does to older witches. She was dead before she even got to the alley Harry. Snape just made her die screaming." Hermione said trying to keep it together for him.

"I could have figured out the play quicker." Harry said.

"Harry. This is not on you. You got there faster than you had any right to. You saved everyone else. You can't blame yourself for this." Hermione said.

"Right. Tell Dora to get everyone back to the Potter and hold down the fort. I'll be back later. I want to put some distance between me and Paris before I portkey back to the Potter. We had aurors follow us." Harry said in a voice devoid of emotion.

"Okay. I love you." She said hanging up and not waiting for him to say it back.

Harry expanded his car, they hopped in, Harry cast obscuring charms on the car, and he took off heading southeast out of the city. When they got out of the city proper Harry stopped on the side road and buried a portkey target. Harry got back in the car and blasted south to Monaco 550 miles away. At this time of the morning there was almost no one on the road and with the obscuring charms on the car Harry never let the car drop below 170 mph the whole way. The two men drove in silence with classic rock blasting out the sound system. The only words exchanged were Dan asked where the Aux jack was so he could plug his old iPhone into the sound system, and to offer Harry a cigar. Which he took without a word.

They had to stop for gas one time on the trip even with the huge 100 gallon gas tank in the car. They pulled off the road just outside Valence France and hour and a half into the trip. Harry pumped gas as Dan headed into the gas station. They both ditched their guns into their bags before getting out of the car. Dan came back out with a few cans of Monsters and a bag of candy bars. It took Harry ten minutes to fill up and when they got back on the road and Harry was less aggressive. He was still speeding above 160 mph but there was less intensity to his lane changes. Dan noticed the shift and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Where are we heading?" Dan asked popping open two monsters and handing one to Harry.

"Monaco. I've got an apartment there, I want to check it out and set up a portkey there. Also I needed to drive. And I needed to think. Figure out the next move." Harry said chugging half a can and burping.

"What conclusions did you come up with?" Dan asked.

"That Dumbledore is worse than the fucking dark lord. That old fuck used his pet death eater to round up the Death Eater youth, kidnap three people, and torture them in front of the bank to force Neville out in the open. I'm sure Snape would have captured the boy and with a few memory charms Neville would have taken my place. The rest of the group would have been collateral damage. I hope he fucking dies but I know he won't. Anything short of a bullet to the brain is curable if you can get to a healer fast enough and the old fuck has a phoenix. The problem is I don't want to kill a bunch of Order members. I know at least half of them are unwitting accomplices. Hell I was a fucking unwitting accomplice up until a week ago. But I know the old man and his turkey club is not going to sit back and let us live. If he's willing to use Death Eaters to flush out a bunch of schoolkids and their parents then what would he do to get his fucking hands on me. Who would he hurt? Well we both know who. She'd be locked up somewhere and I would be made to dance like a good little monkey to the old man's tune." Harry said coldly and Dan knew the boy was right.

"I would die before I let anything happen to my little girl." Dan said.

"As would I. No, for us to live and for that fucking island to claw its way out of the fucking dark ages they all have to go. Tom and his Death Eaters. The old man and his co-conspirators. The old Purebloods that keep the country a hundred years in the past so they can cheat on their taxes and commit crimes with impunity. The Ministry full of backwards pureblood sheep. They all have to fucking go. If they don't go the UK will always be a cesspool of shit." Harry said pulling out a Mini cigar and lighting it with his zippo.

"So they all have to Die?" Dan asked looking at the boy like he might have lost it. He was talking about genocide.

"Don't look at me like I'm fucking nuts. I said Go, not Die. Well, maybe the Death Eaters all have to die. To get the dark make you have to torture and kill for fun in front of the Dark Lord to prove your loyalty. If they have the mark that means they are murders. And you might be saying why not arrest them right? The prison system in the UK is a joke, that's why. You fight with a group like we just put down tonight. The battle is dangerous and maybe one of us dies during the fight to bring them all in. They get a fake trail where they claim they were under the imperius curse and they get off scot free. Of course the minister makes a few thousand galleon for it. So those fuckers have to die. The same with the old man and his inner circle. They have, for three decades, been manipulating the wizarding world in the UK to end family lines and consolidate power and money in the hands of a few "light" families. They use compulsions, memory charms, and rape to do it. Once we have a list of the ones responsible for the line thefts they all fucking die." Harry said flicking ash off his mini cigar and looking at Dan to see if he was still on board.

"Hey I'm with you so far. If the UK had a real government with a real court system, and a real prison then I'd say let's try to bring some of them to justice. But it looks like a bullet is all the justice we can hope for with these sick fucks." Dan said.

"Okay, now for the tricky part. The old pureblood system. It has to go. If it doesn't then nothing changes. If Tom and his goons, and the old man and his friends were to all die tomorrow. An act of god let say. Then a group of three or four pureblood assholes would step up and take their place and the sheep would bleat with confusion for a few days and things would go back to the way they were. Look at you Dan. How would your life be different if you knew you were a squib? Even if you never did anything with that information, and you still joined the service, and you still ended up destroying your leg in a night jump. You could have at least had a healer fix your leg the way doc Carter did. My god, how many poor bastards are just like you in the UK? How many lives are cut short because the option of magical medicine is not available to squibs because they don't know they're squibs? But forget about all that. How many people in the UK are like Emma? There is nothing wrong with her magical core. She should have gotten a chance to attend magical school. And that magical school should teach witches and wizards how to read and do math or walk among normal people in the street without getting run over by a car for God's sake!" Harry ranted.

"But you can't very well kill all of these purebloods can you? If you do then what's the difference between you and your enemy?" Dan asked understanding the boy's anger but he also understood the way the world worked. If governments weren't full of corrupt assholes the world would be fair and just and that's not how the world worked.

"I know that. It's what pisses me off. If they were all guilty of horrible crimes I could bump them off and be done with it. But they're not all criminals. Most of them are just power hungry asshats. The way I see it there are only a few ways the system gets fixed. One way is sadly the same thing the old man has been doing. Consolidate the power of the old lines in a hand full of families under your control and have them vote for things you want." Harry said flicking his cigar butt out of the car.

"Right, but again, you become your enemy." Dan said.

"Exactly. The other option is to ascend to power and work the system. Become the leader the sheep will follow. But that requires a leader that's powerful enough to take control of the old purebloods and force them to see the light. Sadly there is no one that can fill that role, you would need five to ten leaders, one in every subsection of power in the UK all in lock step and functioning as a power block to take the old man's place. It's doable. With Andy as Minister of magic, Amelia as the top cop, a respectable pureblood like Neville as the head of the wizengamot, and Flitwick, if he can be trusted, as headmaster of the school it could work. But then you would have to watch your back all the time for someone trying to kill you to break the power block and the Aurors can not be trusted to not lead the fucking coup." Harry said.

"We could protect them. Make a separate group like the Queen's guard or the US Secret service. Independent of the cops, funded through the government but cut off from the powers the be, and their only task is the protection of the people in charge of the government." Dan said.

"Okay. Say we could put something like that together. How are we going to make it legal? The Wizengamot controls the country and the purebloods will never sign into law something that will make it harder for them to off the people they don't like. No, the first thing we have to do before we do anything else is we need to seek out a higher authority that can force the situation. That can take over the rotten government and force it to not be shit run by assholes. We need the ICW." Harry said killing the rest of his Monster.

"The ICW. I'm still not sure what that is. Abby said it a few times when she was telling us about how bad the UK is." Dan said.

"ICW is like the United Nations, but for magic. We need to talk to someone with some power in the ICW and see if they can step in and fix it. If not then I'm not sure where we go from here." Harry said.

"Didn't they blockade the island?" Dan asked.

"Yes, but that was when the country was a total write off. We might be able to fix it still. But like I said. It's not going to be easy and I honestly don't know if it's worth it. I'm tempted to put together a team of private military types and have them go over and kill off most of the people on the naughty list and let it be. Maybe we don't fix it, we just collect the people they don't want, and take them off the island." Harry said with a shrug.

"You could do that, it's more than what is required of you, and it's more than a lot of people in your shoes would do. Most people would kill the old man and the dark lord and let the island burn as they pissed on it from across the pond." Dan said.

"I know. And I might be willing to do that. If we head back home and I lay it all out for the group and they all shrug and say fuck em' then fuck em'. If they want to help but don't want to run the country then we'll fight the light and the dark and let the purebloods have the UK. We'll collect the squibs and muggle borns. If they want to act like noble fools then I'll do everything in my power to help them fix it and stay alive. Who know we might talk to someone from the ICW and they might tell us to fuck off. It's a game of ifs at this point." Harry said as they saw the principality of Monaco up ahead.

"It's good to know that you have it all thought out. It's also good to hear you talking about hiring grunts to do the bulk of the dirty work. I know for a fact that some of my old service buddies would be willing to take on the work. And if the UK is like the US and three out of every ten people are squibs then that means there are a few thousand wounded soldiers that are a few healing spells away from being fully operational troops ready for war. Even if we can only get one out of five to sign up then we're looking at few hundred trained fighters. At that point you would be a private military company." Dan said laughing but he stopped when Harry looked at him.

"Dan, how hard is it to make a private security company? I mean to make it legal?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure with the right amount of money in the right pockets of the right politicians and you would have the paperwork to make it legal." Dan said also looking shocked at the thoughts forming in his head.

"Steel Security inc.?" Harry asked.

"It would cost a fortune." Dan said.

"I have a fortune." Harry said.

"And it would take most of it. For what? Unless you're willing to take government contracts? In that case it might be revenue neutral." Dan said.

"So we take government contracts. Hell we'll take private contracts. There has to be a bunch of rich guys willing to pay for magical protection." Harry said.

"You would need hundreds, if not thousands of troops." Dan said.

"How much does a soldier make a year?" Harry asked.

"Between fourteen thousand and fifty thousand pounds in Britain. You have to figure it's about the same for US soldiers." Dan said.

"Fourteen thousand pounds?" Harry asked shocked.

"That's entry level mind you. Most grunts make about twenty grand." Dan said.

"Still, even at pay and a half that's thirty thousand a year per soldier. That only three million a year for a hundred men. Even in US Dollars that's only five million dollars. Even if we hired a thousand soldiers at fifty grand a pop that's only fifty million dollars a year. I can run the company into the ground every year and still keep the doors open for what? A hundred years." Harry said looking shocked.

"You have to remember the cost of gear, housing, food, medical…" Dan said but Harry cut him off.

"Dan, how hard would it be to buy or build an apartment building complex in the middle of nowhere USA. Some place like Nebraska, or Kansas. I bet you could build a whole army base for less than fifty million dollars with magic. We know a guy that makes guns and ammo and is willing to sell in bulk. We know a guy that enchants guns, we can buy dragon hide wholesale or kill a few dozen dragons and have someone like Geno make vests. We know a guy that makes armored cars and trucks. We know healers. We can hire House elves to run the base. Tell me where I'm wrong." Harry said pulling out his ring of keys and finding the address for his Monaco apartment and typing it into his phone.

"I don't know, and the more you talk the more it sounds rational. But you would still be losing money in the end. The cost of startup would be a total loss." Dan said.

"So we'll find a way to make money. I'm sure there's a magical solution to a muggle problem that people would be willing to pay a lot of money for." Harry said driving up to a small apartment building.

It took a few minutes to shrink the car and check out the apartment. It was small. Even with expansion charms all over the place it was still just a three bedroom one bathroom hole in the wall. But there were a collection of shrunken boats on the shelf. Harry grabbed a few nice ones. He left a portkey card on the counter in the open kitchen dining room. He held out the portkey for home and they landed in the Potter building twenty seconds later. They took the elevator up to the apartment and found most of the group sitting around library looking at each other. Most of them had drinks in their hands. Neville, Susan, Luna, and Hermione all looked red eyed and tired like they spent a good deal of the last three and a half hours crying.

The sight broke Harry out of he newfound excitement. His plan was pushed aside as the reality of the day hit him again. Hermione was on him as soon as she saw him. She hugged him so hard it hurt and he felt her crying. Luna rushed over next and joined the group hug. Neville and Susan were close behind them. When Neville came over Harry pulled away from the girls and looked at the taller boy with sadness and resignation in his eyes. Neville saw the look and it broke him out of his sadness and made him confused for a few seconds before he looked angry. Harry braced for the punch but it never came. Instead Neville hugged him.

"I'm not mad at you, you fool. You saved our asses and you got my mum and dad out." Neville said in a gruff voice.

"But your gran…" Harry said.

"Was old and sick. She was almost 100. She had Dad late in life and ever since the night they got hurt she's been drinking, a lot. Even mages can die from drinking that much. It aged her. The depression killed her long before today. It's not your fault! It's not your fucking fault. And I'll kick your ass if you keep thinking it is." Neville said pulling back from Harry. Even with the potions and the healing Neville was still a head taller than him and built like a coal miner with big shoulder and arms.

"Okay." Harry said patting Neville on the shoulder with a sad smile. The bigger boy shook his head and punched Harry in the shoulder hard. "Aw! What was that for?" Harry asked rubbing his sure to be bruised shoulder.

"I said I'd kick your ass. It's not your fault! It's Snape's fault! And you killed that son of a bitch right?" Neville asked.

"Shot him right in the fucking face." Harry said coldly.

"Good. It's more than he deserved. He died quick. He deserved to die a slow and painful death full of screaming and begging for his life. It would have prepared him for hell. But I'll take what I can get." Neville said pulling Harry into a tight hug again.

"Okay Brother. Okay. Where is your gran now?" Harry asked.

"Amelia put her body in stasis. She's in a conjured coffin. Hermione took it up on the roof. By the garden. Gran always liked to sit by the garden at home." Neville said, his voice breaking at the end.

Harry held onto the bigger boy tighter until Susan approached them and Harry could pass him off to his girl. Harry patted her on the back as she led her boyfriend back to the table. Harry took Luna's hand and slung his right arm around Hermione's shoulders. The weight of Augusta Longbottom's death was temporarily lifted off his shoulders but the responsibility of everyone in the room replaced the weight. Hermione looked at him and smiled a sad little smile as if reading his thoughts. Both girls led him to the table, and over to Andy. Harry hugged Andy hard.

"I'm glad you came with mum. I don't know if I would be okay with you still over there." He said pulling back from the hug to nod at the rest of the group of adults in the room.

"Me too Harry. It's crazy that a large group of death eaters attacked the bank like that. They risked war with the Goblin nation for us." Andy said.

"It's not that crazy, because they weren't really Death Eaters. I think we should all sit down and I'll bring you all up to speed. I've spent the last three and a half hours driving, thinking and talking things out with Dan. I think we all need to get on the same page." Harry said dropping into a seat at the big library table.

Harry spent the next half hour going over everything he talked about with Dan. He stopped short of talking about Steel Security inc. He wanted to hear what they had to say before he brought up his solution. The ball was in their court after all.

"I agree with you Harry. With the way things are now if you took out the Dark lord and the old man nothing would change. Both the light and the dark would still be there and the pureblood fools would still be in charge. But we don't have the power to change it. There is no way in hell a blood traitor like me will ever be minister for magic. Not even with the backing of the boy who lived, and that's if you still even have the reputation to back me. You tried to kill the old man. You robbed him of his prized cow and his spare, who knows what kind of shit he'll print in that gossip rag in the next few days. You might become a wanted man." Andy said.

"I know all that Mum. But would you take the job if you could? If everything fell into place would you become Minister for Magic?" Harry asked.

"Sure, if it could happen. But it can't." Andy said.

"What about you Amelia, can you get control of your department with our help? How many Aurors do you trust?" Harry asked.

"Not as many as I'd like to. Of a department of 86 I wouldn't trust half of them not to turn on me if a better deal came along. I have maybe 28 loyal aurors on my payroll. What's the point to all of this?" She asked. She was pissed that she had to run away but she was more pissed she lost the office she worked so hard to get.

"The point is if you had powerful backing, and security could you run the country?" Harry asked.

"Sure, are you going to run the school and the wizengamot?" Amelia asked in a snippy tone.

"No, I'm going to handle the security and hopefully the ICW will handle the initial power struggle and transition of power." Harry said laying out his plans to contact the ICW and start a private security company.

"How much would all this coast you?" Andy asked.

"We figured out a rough estimate of about a hundred million to get it up off the ground and about eighty to a hundred million a year to run. But we're hoping to make about that much back a year in private security contracts. Also I'd like to brainstorm ideas to make more money. The more we make a year the bigger the company can get. This has the potential to outlast all of us. A family business we can pass on to our kids one day." Harry said.

"You know, there is one thing I've always said was a billion dollar idea that no one is picking up. Insurance investigation." Ted Tonks said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Say you have a famous painting worth five million buck right? You put insurance on it in case someone steals it. If it does get stolen, insurance companies hire people to track down the stolen property and steal it back. It's a hard job and companies pay out huge claims on stolen property every year. But say a wizard was to cast a blood tracking ritual on the panting and someone was to steal it. The mage would be able to find it easy enough and a mage would be able to steal it back. If you charge the client a one time fee of one percent of the value of the painting to set up the policy and a finders fee of ten percent of the value of the painting when it's returned then on a five million dollar painting you'd be making $50,000 for the sign up fee and $500,000 for the return of the painting. You do that a few hundred times a year and you'd be making real money. And people would be willing to pay double that price for the piece of mind that comes with the guarantee their valuables are safe. After all what's $550,000 to a person with a 5 million dollar painting just hanging on their wall? The real money comes when you can insure all the paintings in a museum. The initial fee alone would be enough to cover a year or two of company costs." Ted asked with a grin.

"Right, so I'll be opening Steel Security and Insurance. Or maybe Investigation? We can handle missing persons cases and things like that too. Something for the mages in the company to do. I'll be opening that soon." Harry said thinking out loud.

"That's a nice idea but don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself? Don't we need to talk to the ICW first? How do you even get a meeting with them?" Amelia asked.

"That's not a problem, I only need to make one phone call. What we need to do now is get everyone a room, and try to get some sleep. It's only just after five in the morning here and nothing is going to happen for another four hours. We need to get you all to a healer. A real healer. I don't how if Hermione told you about the magic world outside the UK…" Harry said and Neville cut him off.

"We know, I hope your healer can do something for my folks." Neville said.

"Where are they?" Harry asked.

"I put them in bed in the pink room." Hermione said.

"Good. Then we'll head to a wand shop and get you guys wands without tracking spells on them. You guys have your wands in a sealed box right?" Harry asked.

"It's the first thing we did as soon as we got in the Beast." Dora said looking dead but holding her mum and dad's hands.

"Okay. At that point I hope to have a meeting set up with someone from the ICW. I'd like Andy and Amelia to join me for this meeting. As an authority on UK wizarding law and a high ranking member of the ministry you two can lend the most the meeting. I also want Dan there for tactical and logistical support. " Harry said.

"And me too of course." Hermione said with a smirk.

"Actually I was hoping you would look after the group. You know the city and I'd like them all to head to the bank to establish their accounts here so they have access to them. I'd also like them all to relax for the day. In fact I want us all to try to take a few days and just release some of the tension and adrenaline of tonight out of your systems. Eat, drink, be merry. Go see a movie, take them to Macy's and get them all outfitted for life in the states. Ted I know you play golf, we're members at a very nice course not too far from here. We can set up a tee time whenever we want. They have a sporting clay range and I know you're avid hunter. You will all be given dragon hide vests and guns. We have a shooting range in the house along with a big game room, and movie room. Help yourselves. What's mine is yours. We've had a about a week to get used to life in the states. We will help you adapt as quick as we can. Does everyone have a room?" Harry asked.

"We're in the room with the birds." Andy said.

"Susan and I are sharing the gray room." Amelia said.

"Mia turned the couch in the pink room into a bed for me." Neville said.

"She did the same for me. Dad and I are in the room with the deer heads." Luna said.

"Good. If you need clothes or toothbrushes…." Harry started to say but Andy cut him off with a smile.

"Harry, relax. We'll be fine." She said taking his hand.

"Okay. Then off to bed with you lot. We'll have a late breakfast in the kitchen around ten." Harry said with a smile as they all got up and shifted out of the room in ones and twos. Andy pulled him into a tight hug again.

"Good night son." She said softly.

"Night mum." Harry said watching them walk out of the room. The only ones still in the room were Luna and Hermione. Harry turned to Luna who looked like she wanted to ask him something but was too shy.

"Can I help you with something Luna?" Harry asked putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Harry, can we get Collin and his family out soon?" Luna asked.

"Sure. They were supposed to come over in a week. With Andy over here now it's going to be harder to organize group transfers. But I'm sure we can get them out. We still need to get Oliver Wood out. Also Katie's Bell, Dean Thomas, and their families. They're both Muggleborns. We're going to try to get all of the muggleborns out over the next month. The dark lord is still down for the count and they hold no value to the old man so we have a bit of time. Do you have their number? We have phones for you guys." Harry asked.

"We've talked on the phone a few times I have his number." Luna said blushing.

"Okay. Tomorrow first thing we'll set you up with a phone and you can call him." Harry said yawning.

"Thank you Harry. I know right now is not a good time to make requests but I'm worried about him." Luna said ducking her head and turning a brighter shade of red.

"I understand. I'm worried too. I will personally pop back to the UK and get them out if I have too." Harry said and Luna pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you. I love you Harry." She said softly, before she jerked back. "I mean like a brother…." She tried to backpedal looking panicked at Hermione.

"Luna, Little sister, we love you too." Harry said pulling her back into his arms as Hermione hugged her too.

"Relax Luna, you're family. You don't have to worry about saying you love us." Hermione said with a smile.

"Well I do. The DA was everything to me. Especially you two. I felt like you two took me in." She said.

"How could we not? Now get some sleep. We're right down at the end of the hall if you need anything." Harry said rubbing her back and leading her out of the library.

Harry left most of the lights in the hallway on so people could find their way if they got up. At her door they hugged her again and watched her go inside the room before they headed to their room. They walked into their room and saw the mess of bed covers their bed was because of their rush to get dressed. Harry stripped out of his armor and gear down to his boxers and slipped into bed. Hermione followed his lead and got in next to him. Hedwig who spent most of her days in the big room hopped up on to the bed and looked into Harry's eyes. She hopped up onto his chest and licked his face before walking back to the foot of the big bed and too her spot on the wide bench built into the foot of the bed. Hermione rolled over and up onto his chest to look in his eyes too.

"Penny for um?" She asked.

"I killed eight people today. Executed them by shooting them in the face. I killed four of them knowing they were most likely kids we went to school with." Harry said looking tired but not sleepy.

"Harry, they stopped being kids the second they put on black robes and white masks and decided to be death eaters." Hermione said.

"Still, I felt nothing in the moment. I thought about the fact that I was killing people but my brain just shrugged and reminded me that it wasn't the first time I killed. Do you think less of me for killing?" Harry asked.

"No. Not now, not never, will I think less of you. Harry they kidnapped three people tonight and used them as pawns in a sick game. They killed Neville's gran. She died screaming. They would have killed his parents, our friends and their families. They would have done it and they would have slept like babies afterwards. Death Eaters are a pack of wild dogs. Putting them down is not murder, it's a public service." Hermione said.

"Okay. I love you." Harry said holding her to his chest.

"I love you too, now go to sleep." She said kissing him.

"Okay." Harry said holding her to him but sleep didn't come for a while.

Harry laid there looking at Hermione. He watched her sleep and he ran his hand up and down her back. When he finally drifted off to sleep he saw images of the night's activities play out in his mind. Harry watched them a few times but then he pushed it aside and studied it from a tactical standpoint and thought of things he could have done better. He had to admit there were very few things he could have done to improve the outcome of the situation. By the time his mind relaxed and he got some real sleep he only got two hours.


	10. Chapter 10

For the second day in a row and the third time in two days Harry was woken up by a knock at the door. He shot out of bed at the sound and grabbed his track pants off the chair by the bed. He put them on as he jogged to the door and opened it to see Andy standing there dressed for the day in jeans, a white button up shirt, black pumps, and black suit jacket.

"Hey mum. Sleep well?" He asked stretching as his body cracked and popped back into place.

"We did. The beds are very soft. We're all gathered for breakfast. Emma sent me to get you guys up. It's just past ten." Andy said glancing around the huge dimly light room. She saw Hermione sitting up in bed with the blankets up around her naked body.

"We'll be out in a few minutes." Harry said.

"Okay." Andy said with a smile that bordered on a smirk. Harry shut the door and walked back over to the bed. As he did he saw his cat was no longer a cat but a bird again.

"Hey girl. I'm betting you're happy to be a bird again?" Harry asked holding out his arm for her to hop up onto which she did. She looked at him with a half shrug and stretched her wings as if she was getting used to them again. Then she tapped her beak with her wing and gave Harry a sad look.

"You liked having a cat's face?" Harry asked and his bird nodded sadly.

"Do you want to go back to being a cat?" Harry asked and his bird gave him a shrug and flapped her wings.

"You want to go back to being a cat, but you want to keep the wings?" Harry asked and Hedwig bobbed her head.

"I'm not sure if that would work girl. You're bird wings won't be able to carry your cat body." Harry said to which he got a sad squawk in reply.

"Harry, why don't you just make her wings bigger and her cat body smaller?" Hermione asked as she finished getting dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You're a mage Harry, just transfigure your bird into a small cat with big powerful wings. It won't hurt her. And later we can try out other things, maybe she'll like something else better." Hermione said looking at Harry like he was slow, which at the moment thanks to his limited sleep, he was a little slow.

Harry grabbed his wand off the nightstand and set Hedwig on the bed. He thought about what he wanted and waved his wand over his bird and she shifted back into a small white cat with large eagle sized white wings that connected to her back and folded up along her body like a gryphon. Hedwig expanded her wings and flapped them a few times to check out how they felt before she took a running leap off the bed and glided to the floor. She turned around and took a few running steps as she flapped her big wings and took flight. It was hard for her to hover but she could glide around the room with ease. Harry held out his hands and she glided to him landing in his hands and folding up her wings. Harry set her on his shoulder and they walked out of the room heading for the kitchen. They stopped short when they saw everyone in the dining room.

"Hey guys I see you figured out the room service tray." Harry said letting Hedwig down.

"Yeah, Emma showed us. This is great Harry." Ted said.

"Good, also don't bother picking up after yourselves there's a full time elf service that will have this place spotless by the time we get back. Mia, do you want your normal breakfast?" Harry asked heading for the kitchen.

"Yes Harry. But I want a caramel cappuccino." Hermione said.

"On the way love." Harry said without thinking as he walked out of the room. Everyone smirked and looked at Hermione who sat up in her seat with a smile of her own. Her wand was in her hand in a flash and she hit the door with a silent silencing charm.

"Get it out of your systems now people. I don't want you making Harry feel self conscious with your jokes and looks. I got him acting on his feelings and expressing himself. His relatives made him shy and brow beaten so Dumbledore could control him and keep him weak. So joke about it with me, but you leave my Harry alone. If we want to make it out the other end of this war we need Harry confident." She said looking around the table in her best Mcgonigal stare.

"We won't say anything dear. I think it's nice to see him expressing himself." Andy said smiling at her protective stare.

"Good. Anyone else?" Hermione asked.

"Harry's a lucky man." Ted said.

"I'll say. How come you don't stick up for me like that?" Dan asked his wife.

"Your head doesn't need to get any bigger dear." Emma said without missing a beat and it set the table off.

"Just so we're clear, you're not moving into Neville's room." Amelia said to Susan making both her niece and the boy sitting next to her blush just as Harry came in floating plates and holding cups of coffee. He set the food down and looked around the table.

"What did I miss?" He asked setting everyone off again.

"Nothing Love. Thank you for getting breakfast for me." Hermione said kissing him and digging in.

"You are most welcome." Harry said setting a plate with fancy cat food on the floor for his cat bird.

"I can't help but notice your Bird is a Cat with Wings now." Dan said.

"Yeah. She turned back this morning and she missed having a mouth and fur but she wanted to fly again so we came up with a compromise. A cat with wings. But she can be anything I can think of. I think I'm going turn her into a small dog when we go so we can take her with us for a change. She would make a cute purse pooch." Harry said reaching down to pet Hedwig's head.

"So you can turn her into anything? What about a human?" Dan asked trying to understand magic.

"I mean, I've never tried, but seeing as you could turn a human into an animal then I'm sure you can turn a bird into a human." Harry said looking to Hermione for confirmation.

"You can, but it would still be Hedwig the owl as a girl. She won't be able to speak, or eat with a knife and fork. Walking on two legs might be odd for a while. It would be the equivalent of a human with no higher brain function. Turning her into other animals would be better. But there is no size restrictions. You could turn Hedwig into anything from a small bug to a big elephant. It will be disorientating for her to change. I'd stick to small domesticated animals for now. Small dogs, cats, birds, rodents, reptiles, and the like." Hermione said.

"We'll try a few to see what she likes. As for our day. I know we have appointments all over the city starting with a big group appointment at Doc Carter's office at noon. I think we'll all head over to the doctor's office and as Doc Carter finishes seeing you guys we'll start shuttling you guys off to the wand makers shop to get a jump start on that. After that we'll head off to Geno's shop for some formal clothing and things. Geno makes clothes for women. We found out the last time were there so we'll get everyone outfitted a bit and them head off to lunch. At some point Abby will call me back and tell me what time the appointment at the ICW is set for. Andy, Amelia, Dan, and I will head off to the meeting and meet back up with the group for dinner somewhere. Tomorrow we'll do a big shopping run. Hopefully we can get a tee time at the club for tomorrow morning." Harry said looking at his watch and trying to visualize the time table for the day. Most of the adults around the table found it to be a bit funny and or cute that Harry was plotting out their day for them. The Grangers and Dora just nodded.

"Before we leave this apartment I want to get everyone a gun rig and have them run through a hundred rounds before we let them out the front door. They all have vests." Dan said.

"I agree. That's good thinking. I see most of you are dressed for the day. Dan can you start running them through gun selection while I grab a shower and change?" Harry asked.

"I'd be happy to help." Dan said.

"Good. Anything else we need to do today?" Harry asked looking around the table and getting head shakes.

They finished breakfast and they all headed off in different directions. Most of them followed Dan to the shooting room. They looked around the room wide eyed as Dan went over to the back table they set aside for the enchanted guns they just bought and grabbed a few of them. He brought them to the table and went over gun safety with the group that included people that knew what they were doing like Ted, Andy, and oddly enough Odd and Luna Lovegood who were magical big game hunters in their time off. The rest of the group which included Amelia 'why would I need a muggle firearm?' Bones, Susan, and Neville. Dan broke the group up and had the folks that knew what they were doing test out the guns as he went over the basics of firearms handling, aiming, and trigger control. By the time Harry walked into the room dressed in his black three piece suit, white shirt, and black tie the first group had their guns and they were working through their first 100 rounds to get used to loading and shooting.

"Harry, I love your house. I'm staying." Ted called out as he blasted away with the other enchanted Wilson Combat 1911 they had.

"Okay with me. How's it going mum?" Harry asked approaching Andy who was blasting away at a target with with a CZ75b SP-01.

"Great dear. And I agree. We're staying with you from here on out. Between the library, this room, and the movie room you have everything covered. Add in room service and the elf maid service and I never have to lift a finger again." Andy said with a smile.

"I'd be happy if you guys stayed. It's good to have a house full of family." Harry said patting her on the back as he looked at Odd who was shooting the Browning Hi-power Dora gave Harry before the trip. The older style gun had a silencing charm but no extended mag or recoil enchantments. Odd was shooting one handed standing side long at the target. But he was getting perfect hits and his reloads were spot on and fast.

"Nice work Mr. Lovegood. Very accurate and your reload was flawless." Harry said.

"I've been shooting for thirty years my boy. You don't go traipsing through the African bush without a side arm. The crumple horned snorkacks might be big and easy to spot but big cats and venomous snakes are more likely to get you. I've carried a 500 nitro express double rifle and an old 1911 every trip." Odd said confidently.

"Very good sir. We must all sit down sometime soon and put a hunting party together." Harry said feeling more and less confused. How can a sentence be both practical and informative, and also confusing and full of nonsense? Harry shook it off and checked out Luna who was standing next to her dad. She was using the Little Sig p238 pocket pistol. In her tiny hands the gun looked like a commander sized 1911. Like her dad she was shooting one handed and doing it flawlessly. She had a big grin on her face as she turned the paper target into a donut.

"Like that little gun Luna?" Harry asked.

"Very much so. It's nicer than the walther ppk my dad got me for hunting trips. It fits my hands better and it doesn't hurt to shoot." Luna said with a big dreamy smile.

"Well it's your gun now. We'll see if we can get you a small 1911 that shoots 9mm. I'd much rather have you shooting a bigger bullet but with the recoil enchantments you won't feel the difference." Harry said.

"If you four have put about a hundred rounds through your guns then you can step away from the shooting line. Reload your mags and holster your guns, keep them on you at all times. Like the vests they should be the first things you put on in the morning. Harry get Neville set up." Dan instructed the four shooters before going back to talk to Amelia and Susan.

It took most of the hour they had to get all three of them up to speed. Susan took the last Sig p238 pocket pistol. Amelia and Neville ending up with a Sig p226 tacops, although Amelia found the firearm distasteful and Neville found the gun a bit small in his huge baseball mit sized hands. By the time they cleared out of the shooting room to head out the two Bones ladies were just passing competent but Neville, like Harry and Hermione took to the gun like it was second nature. The last two dozen rounds he fired he put in the dead center of the target at thirty feet. Harry, who found himself evaluating everything on many levels now saw the skill and size of his friend and knew he would have to try to talk the boy into joining the Steel Security team. With some training Neville would be someone's nightmare. At 6'2 and at least 200lbs of mostly muscle he was already scary.

It took a few minutes to get everyone into the Beast and Harry's Camaro. Harry waved his wand over his winged cat and she turned into a small all white Jack Russell terrier. She yapped out a bark and wagged her tail before she hopped up into Hermione's arms and into her big handbag. They took a few other cars with them for later when the group was going to split up. Harry lead the Beast with Andy, Ted, and Hermione in his car as Dan drove the beast with everyone else. Ted was sitting up front and he looked around the car with an appreciative nod.

"You like the car Ted?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I love it. I miss having a nice classic car. I used to have a mint condition little yellow Porsche 914 spyder. It was a fun little car. But then we had Dora, and we needed a real car so I traded in my little sports car for a black 1990 BMW 525i. It had good safety ratings. I had that BMW all the way up five years ago when Dora wrecked it. I fixed it with a spell and it never drove right again after that. I traded it for a small Ford Fiesta 3 door hatch with the small 1 liter ecoboost turbo engine. It was like driving a golf cart it was so slow. I started driving less and less over the years and walking to work more. It's only 22 blocks from the house and I don't have to pay congestion charges or for parking. Three years of walking and I lost forty pounds and I started working out more, which I know Andy likes." Ted said with a smile.

"You know I do. My husband has the body on a man half his age." Andy said with pride.

"You two both look very fit for mages. Magic burns calories so there are not a lot of fat mages but their are a lot of soft and doughy ones. You both look more like healthy muggles like my folks." Hermione said.

"Thank you dear. We try to eat right and we walk everywhere we can. Walking to the shops has the added benefit of stopping you from buying too much junk, after all is it worth it to buy three cases of beer and soda if you have to lug it home." Andy said.

"Well now that you're here we should take you out to Red Hook to Miguel's shop and see if he has a nice convertible porsche for you. Something fun and fast like Emma's car." Harry said.

"Yeah, I have more money now then I know what to do with. I sold my accounting firm for 25 million dollars. Andy sold her part of the law firm for 18 million. The house is paid off and under heavy wards. We have no other forms of outstanding debt. We've made it Harry. We've always been well off but now we finally have fuck you money." Ted said.

"Fuck you money?" Harry asked looking at the older man.

"It's an amount of money in a bank account that is more then you will ever be able to spend in your lifetime. It means you never have to work another day in your life. You never have to take shit from a boss or client. You don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and head into an office, and kiss someone's ass. You have enough money to tell them all to take a long walk off a short pier. Fuck you money. We have it. Right honey?" Ted said looking in the back seat at his wife who was grinning.

"It's been a dream or ours to have Fuck you money. I was initially against the vulgar term but it does sum up the idea succinctly. We're retired!" Andy said with a big grin.

"Oh Mum, I didn't know. We'll find someone else to take over the ministry." Harry said.

"You don't have to, I'll do it for a while. But it's not really a dream of mine." Andy said.

"No need, we'll stick Amelia with the bag." Harry said laughing.

"She is a bit of a stick in the mud isn't she?" Andy said laughing.

"From the short amount of time I've known her it seems about right." Harry said pulling over in front of the doctor's office. Everyone hopped out and Harry shrank the car so Dan could pull in next.

Most of the group headed into the doctor's office as Harry and Hermione floated the unconscious Longbottoms into the office and right into an exam room with two beds. Harry stayed with Neville as doc Carter looked them over. He ran scans and asked Neville questions about their care. As he worked Harry saw his friend get more and more agitated by the questions and the lack of information from the doctor. Harry grabbed Neville's shoulder in his left hand and patted the bigger boy on the back.

"Doc Carter. Can you share some of your finding so far. My friend's fuse is getting shorter by the minutes and he's big enough to get through me to get to you." Harry said laughing to break up the tense air.

"I'm sorry son. I'm not talking because my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say you shouldn't say anything at all. Having me rant about the level of care your parents have been getting for almost fifteen years is not going to help anyone and I doubt you want to hear how creative I can get with my cursing." Doc Carter said turning to Neville and patting the bigger boy on the shoulder.

"So it's like I feared. They've been getting shit care haven't they? How bad and can you fix it?" Harry asked Pulling Neville into his side with his arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Well, let's start with the damage done to them in the first place. The male patient…." Doc Carter started to say.

"Frank, and the female is Alice." Harry supplied for the doctor as he gave him a look. The doctor saw the look and nodded.

"Thank you. I would have gotten it from a chart but I doubt the so called healers working on them can read or write. Frank here is, to put it in terms you can grasp, totally scrambled. His mind has shut down completely. It would be easier to find parts of his brain that were not damaged then to point out all the damage. Alice on the other hand is less damaged. Tell me, does she have periods of wakefulness and some conscious thought?" Carter asked.

"She does, she sits up and she interacts with me a bit. She doesn't speak, and I don't know if she knows it me. I also don't know if she remembers the interactions." Neville said as Harry guided him to a chair in the room as the boy broke. Tears streamed out of his eyes but he didn't sob. He tried with everything in him to stay strong. Harry never left his side.

"Keep going doc." Harry said.

"Well, like I said it's bad. To make matters worse they've been left to wither away. They are emaciated, weak, and their cores have deflated for lack of a better word. But here's the good news, almost everything can be fixed to a point with potions, tonic, time, diet and exercise. They will never be one hundred percent back to the mages they were before all of this but they will be back to fully functioning people with the right treatments." Carter said.

"How long and do you have access to the treatments?" Harry asked.

"A few days for their minds to heal. A few weeks for their bodies to heal. It could take a few months to get their magic back to full strength…." Doc Carter was cut off by an almost feral yell of rage from Neville.

"DAYS! THEY COULD HAVE BEEN HEALED IN DAYS!" Neville yelled so loud that Hermione, Susan, and Luna rushed into the room. Harry pulled Neville out of his chair and hugged the bigger boy as he shook from the sobs. Doc Carter shook his head looking sad for the boy. The girls joined the hug.

"Son, I'm sorry for everything you and your parents went through. The injustice of the situation is impossible for me to put into words. Two people have been robbed of fifteen years of life for no good reason that I can think of. It's going to take time and the right amount of work on their parts. But they will be fixed. I can't give you the fifteen years you lost but I can get them back." Carter said as the group broke up so Neville could look at the doctor.

"Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, and whatever you need, get it and put it on the card you have on file. This gets started now." Harry said.

"I understand. I can start them both on an IV drip of healing tonic, liquid protein, and growth potion right now to get their bodies back. They need to spend about six to eight hours here just getting nutrients and tonics pumped into them to get them started. I'll track down the potions and I can stop by your home later today to set up a room for their care and start the treatments. They need to be monitored for the first few days. I can ask a few of my nurses if they would be willing to spend a few days and nights monitoring them." Doc Carter said.

"We have them set up in a private suit of rooms. My home is at your disposal." Harry said locking eyes with the doctor. The message was clear. Get it done.

"I'll get to it then." Carter said walking out of the room to get the treatments ready.

"How are you feeling baby?" Susan asked looking into his big sorrow filled eyes.

"Betrayed. When we go back and burn the UK to the ground I'm going to find out why they were left to rot away like this for fifteen years. Then I'm going to kill the person who did it. They will die screaming for this." Neville said in a voice so cold it made Susan flinch but Harry just nodded.

"I'll help you track them down and I'll hold them down for you." Harry said confidently making them all laugh. But Harry locked eyes with Neville and the bigger boy knew that Harry wasn't kidding one bit. If he wanted it Harry would help him torture someone to death. Neville knew at that moment that Harry was more then his friend. He was his brother.

"Thank you for helping me with this." Neville said hugging Harry.

"Anything for you brother. You should know this by now. All of you. Family means everything to me. You are my family." Harry said patting Neville on the back as he took Hermione's hand.

"When the Doc gets your folks hooked up we'll have him run though you three real quick and we'll head over to the wand shop in my car. He can take his time with the rest of the group and they can head over in the Beast. We need some time as a group. You need some time without your aunt breathing down your neck. When things are less hectic in about a week I think we'll do a road trip to Miami. I got a big ass house down there. We'll each take a car and by the time we get there you'll have a good handle on driving by then. Especially if we drive back after a week or so on the beach. We have time on our side again. Let's take it. How long will your gran keep before we have to do a funeral? Do you think we can hold off until your parents get up?" Harry asked.

"I hope so. I don't even know what to do. We don't have a pire, I don't even know the fire spell to burn a body." Neville said.

"I do Neville, I'll teach it to you when you get your new wand. And the stasis should hold for weeks, maybe even months." Hermione said.

Doc Carter came in with two nurses and they moved quickly to get IV tubes into the elder Longbottoms before they hooked four IV bags with different colored fluids to each of them. Doc Carter ran a few scans on them and made notes in his chart before he had a quick and quiet conversation with his two nurses. He turned to the group and smiled at them softly.

"I've started them on two tonics that will fix the damage done to their bodies and two potions that will work with the tonics to speed up the process. A few days of this combination and they should look more human. I have a line on the potion they need. I have a lab driving a two week supply up from Washington D.C., it should be here in a few hours. These bags will run into them in about an hour I'd like to run six to eight sets of this through them before we start the treatment tonight. Hopefully in a few days they should be up and about. I can not guarantee anything at this stage. Time and their bodies will dictate the end results but I know they should be able to make a full recovery." Carter said.

"Thank you doctor. I appreciate the work you're putting in on this." Neville said.

"It's my job son. I can't leave a patient in that state. Now let's start moving through the rest of you. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing how bad you guys are medically." Doc Carter said walking out of the room with one or the nurses.

Neville walked over to the two beds and touched both of his parents arms before walking out of the room with the group following him. It took an hour to get through Neville, Luna, and Susan. All three of them were Purebloods and therefore only got treatment in the magical UK. As a result they each had a laundry list of shit wrong with them.

The girls went first. Susan went into the exam room with her aunt who was skeptical of the better magical medicine of the colonies. A few minutes after the exam started she was singing a different tune. Susan had lingering active traces of the Dragon Pox virus she had when she was six still in her body. The result was a drain on her core that would have killed her over time as the magical virus reasserted itself and finished off her core by the time she was eighty. Doc Carter hit her with a few spells and made her drink a few bad tasting potions. She got violently ill and vomited up a big bucket full of black bile and sludge. When she recovered Carter tested her numbers and her mage score jumped from a 125 to a 145 and subsequent test showed a jump to 150, 155, and she leveled off at 165. He handed her a big cough syrup bottle of tonic and a shot cup.

"Take two shots of this for the next five days just to be sure, aside from that you're fine." Carter said.

Luna had Hermione accompany her into the exam room. After a quick scan and a short conversation they found out what was wrong with her. Luna struggled with nasty headaches from her minor seeing ability. She should have been given a weekly potion for it but she never was. This resulted in her hindering her natural seeing ability and that's what was causing the pain. On the tonic she would never get the headaches again, and she would have clearer and more precise visions. Also she would have more visions but less disruptive ones. She also needed some bones and scar tissue healed from a few injuries she sustained while hunting magical creatures with her parents as a young girl. She was still knocked out sitting in the waiting room when Neville went in with Harry.

Neville having grown up with a weak connection to his magic was basically tortured as a child by his gran and it did actually harm to his body and core. The funny part to the whole thing was he had a block on his core to start with and that was the reason he was so weak to begin with.

"It's a sinister little thing. It's not really a block so much as a gate. It disrupts the flow of magic not the magical itself. I can take it down. The damage done to your body and core will have to be repaired over time like Harry's. You'll be on the same potion he is taking. I'm going to prescribe it for you for three weeks." Carter said making a note in his file.

"Three weeks! He'll be too big to fit in my house in three weeks! Are you sure he needs it? Look at him. He's huge." Harry said joking around with his big friend.

"And he should be bigger. If I had to guess I'd say somewhere in the 6'5" to 6'7" area and about 275- 290 pounds of pure muscle. Kid you're going to be a freaking giant. But it's what you should have been. Stick to the diet and exercise plan Harry and Dan are on and you should look like you're cut from granite. How are you doing Harry?" Doc Carter asked.

"I'm up to 5'10" and 151 lbs today." Harry said.

"Good. I'm going to leave you on the potion for three more weeks, I think you'll be able to get bigger and stronger. I want you're bone density numbers to go up. Now, let's get this block off your core." Carter said waving his wand over Neville a few times as he muttered something. He wrote something down on a fresh scrap of paper and they headed to the operating room.

The ritual took about a half hour of writing runes on Neville's naked body and chanting. Harry made fun of the fact that everything on his brother was Big. "Oh Come on! That's not even fair." Harry complained making Neville blush and laugh.

"Sorry shorty." Neville said.

"So not cool. You get to be six and a half foot tall, big as the Rock, and you're hung like a centaur. You better learn all the sex magical you can before you and Susan go at it or you'll kill the girl." Harry said keeping his friend distracted as Carter worked on setting up the ritual.

"The potion will make you bigger but I don't think you can get bigger in that area son." Doc Carter said with a smirk.

"You guys better stop or you'll give me a big head." Neville said turning red.

"It get's bigger?" Harry said making them all laugh.

"We're all set. You can stay and help or you can go but I need silence for this." Carter said finishing his prep work.

"I'll help, anything I can do." Harry said.

"Good stand here. Place your hands on the two runes on his shoulders and when he started to glow push a little magic into him. It will help me break the binding." Carter said.

The ritual started when Carter started chanting something Harry didn't understand, it sounded spanish, or something like that. Soon the runs started to glow and Harry placed his hands on the two on Neville's shoulders. As soon as he made contact he felt his own Magic jump to life. Harry pushed raw power into his brother. Neville glowed bright white and there was a blinding flash and a backlash that tossed Harry back a few feet. Harry roll to his feet and brushed himself off. Neville hopped off the table and started bouncing around on the balls of his feet like a five year old on a sugar high.

"How do you feel?" Carter asked.

"Like I'm on fire. My whole body in tingling and I feel like I can run forever and never stop." Neville said talking fast and loud.

"Well stand still while I check your numbers." Carter said hitting Neville with a gold spell and the number 275 popped up.

"Oh Shit." Carter said.

"What?" Both boys asked.

"You're over juiced. You're core is way overpowered thanks to Harry. Son we got two options here. Both of them are dangerous. One, we can try to funnel the magic back into Harry. It might work or it might hurt the both of you. Or two, you can ride it out and it will make your core bigger, or it will tear your core and you'll have a hard time casting and controlling spells for a few weeks." Carter said running scans on the boy again.

"It's up to you. I'll try to take the magic back. Sorry by the way." Harry said.

"It's fine. I think I want to try to ride it out." Neville said.

"Well. The good news is you were a 210 before the block and your new number should be around 250 so it's not a lot of power for an arch mage. Just for my peace of mind, lock hands like this and Neville you try to push your magic and Harry you try to absorb it back." Carter said linking their two hands.

"Okay, go for it bro. I can handle it." Harry said nodding. Neville's hands glowed and then a few seconds lather Harry's hands glowed. Harry started to sweat and he gripped Neville's hands tighter.

"Stop!" Carter called out and both boys let go. Neville felt light headed but he got his bearings back when he saw Harry bent over trying to keep breakfast down.

"Harry you okay?" Neville asked.

"Yeah. I got a nasty head rush." Harry said standing up and shaking his head. Carter ran scans on both boys and hummed as he made notes.

"It's as I expected. You two are not related? You're sure about that?" Carter asked.

"We're not related, but with how inbred the UK is I'm sure we're cousins somewhere down the line." Harry said.

"Then this is odd, your cores are very compatible. Almost complementary. I'd like to study you both some more at a later time. There might be something odd at play here. For now just know that if you ever need emergence healing and you can't get to a doctor you two are your best bet. Healing spells cast by you two on each other should work very well. On the other hand battle magic I think won't work on you two. I bet you could hit Harry with a bone breaker to the head and all he'd get was a bloody nose. We see this with siblings all the time but for two people not related, it's odd." Carter said making notes.

"Can I get dressed now?" Neville asked.

"Please do. It's bad enough I know it's there you don't have to flaunt it." Harry said breaking the tension in the room again.

When they came out of the room they collected Susan and Hermione and Neville picked up a still sleeping Luna and carried her like a small child. They spoke to the adults for a few minutes and they they headed out to the curb where Harry expanding his Camaro and they got in with Neville up front and the three girls in the back with Luna in the middle so they could hold her up. Harry headed southeast to the wandmaker. He plugged his phone into the modern sound system, or modern for fifteen years ago and put on Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah - Lake Shore Drive.

"I like this song, it nice." Susan said closing her eyes and looking up into the bright sunshine. The feeling of the big convertible moving through the city with the soft but driving song and the warm sun on her face was a glorious feeling. Right there and then she decided this was what the good life felt like and she smiled.

"Dan showed me this song and it's been a favorite for me ever since. I have a place in Chicago and it's my goal to cruise up Lake Shore Drive while listening to this song at four in the morning." Harry said bobbing his head as he cut in and out of traffic to keep them moving but not violently.

"I like this car. I still can't believe you guys can drive." Neville said.

"We just started. I'm still a bit jerky with my brake pedal and I sometimes miss time a shift but the trick to driving is just doing it." Hermione said.

"What she said but without the issues as you can see because I drove a super fast sportscar with a heavy clutch and sticky race breaks when I learned. " Harry said.

"Do you think I can get a car like this?" Neville asked.

"There is a half built Ford Mustang in my study that you can have as soon as we put it back together. But I think we're going to head over to Miguel's shop and get you guys set up with cars of your own once you know how to drive. Like I said we're going to road trip as soon as we get the rest of the group over here. A road trip is the way to learn. It forces you to drive for hours a day and the expressway is good for controlling the car at speed. Every hour you spend behind the wheel the better you get and the more confidence you feel. We just have to get everything ready. We need to get Colin and Denise Creevey and their dad, Oliver Wood, and Katie Bell, and her mum out. There were more but that's all I can think of at the moment." Harry said as they pulled up to the wand shop.

They all got out with Luna getting up finely as they got her out of the car. Harry and Neville walked her into the shop 'weekend and Bernie's style'. David greeted Harry and Hermione with smiles. But looked concerned when he saw Luna.

"What did you do to this poor girl?" David asked.

"Nothing. We just came from the doctor's office and she's coming around from her anasteisha. She'll be fine in a few minutes right little sister?" Harry asked brushing a few blonde hairs out of her face as she slowly came out of it.

"Yes daddy." Luna said before her nose scrunched up. "Harry, you're not my daddy. You're my sexy brother." She said before her eyes got big and she tried to bury her head in Neville's side.

"I love you too little sister. Now these three need wands, start with these two I'll keep working on this one." Harry said taking a seat in the leather chair in the corner of the shop and pulling Luna into his lap where she rested her head on his shoulder as she hovered half way between sleep and fully awake.

"Okay, if anyone comes in tell them I am in the back." David said leading the rest of them in the back.

"How you feeling Moon child?" Harry asked rubbing her back.

"I don't trust my mouth at the moment." She said.

"Why not? You don't think I'm sexy? You don't love me no more?" Harry asked in mock hurt.

"I do, and that's the problem. I'm messed up enough to say something I'll regret." She said.

"Like what? You can tell me how cool and sexy I am. It's fine. It's only the truth after all." Harry said with a silly grin which made Luna laugh.

"Well I used to think you were sexy." She said laughing.

"There's my little sister. You ready to try standing up on your two little chicken legs?" Harry asked.

"Chicken legs?" She asked.

"Yes, you are too skinny. We need to get you fatter. How are we going to eat you later if you're all skin and bones?" Harry asked tickling her side and making her jump off his lap. She wobbled for a second and Harry had his arms out to catch her but she stood and tried a few steps.

"I think I'm good." She said.

"Good. Now go get your wand. Just walk through the door. Send my lady back out." Harry said.

"Thank you Harry. I do love you big brother." She said hugging him again.

"I love you too little sister. Now scoot." Harry said as his phone started ringing. He pulled it out and saw it was Abby.

"Hey Harry, I got you a meeting with the American security council chair Marcus Walker for today at 5:30. The ICW building is right next to the UN building in the UN complex on first street and 47th street. Your name should be on the list at the gate to the parking garage. I have you listed as Harry Steel and three guests. I told him a bit about the situation including who you really are. Just give your name at the front desk." Abby said and Harry looked at his watch. It was just after two now.

"Right. Thank you Abby, I owe you big time for this. At some point soon I'm going to open my own security and insurance investigation company. I know you're a big shot at the bank and you make good money but I'd like you to think about jumping ship and coming to work for me full time as my assistant and head trouble shooter. The position will come with a full staff of your own choosing and I'll pay you double what you make now to do half as much work." Harry said as Hermione came out and sat in his lap.

"Look, Harry. It's like I said before. I like you guys. You're a lot nicer than the normal assholes I work for. As nice as the offer is…" She stopped talking as someone barked a question at her. Harry heard some of the conversation on the other side of the phone. It sounded like someone was asking about some kind of document. Harry could hear how flustered Abby sounded as she apologized for something.

"Sorry about that Harry. I'm still in Paris working on a deal and these French wizards are the worst. So disorganized and bossy on top of that. I have to go. You're all set with the ICW." Abby said.

"Thank you again. And the offer was real. I would never yell like that. You can bring over any staff you have at the same or better pay. Big office, a staff of at least ten, a company car, and an apartment in the Potter building if it will sway you. I hope to start building up the company by the middle of July next month. Your help would make it go way smoother. You know everyone. If we can get it up and running by the new year I'll toss in a million dollar bonus. If we can get it done by Halloween I'll make it three." Harry said.

"You're crazy Harry, I have to go kill a Frenchman. I'll talk to you later…. And I'll think about it." She said before hanging up.

"Trying to steal Abby from the goblins?" Hermione asked kissing Harry.

"Yes. With her running the day to day for me I can do more then just sit behind a desk all day. I'd like to work as a recovery agent. It sounds like fun. Can you imagine stealing back stolen property? Ever since Ted told us about it I've been thinking about doing it. I think I can run the Agents with Neville, Dora, and the Creevey boys. With your dad running the tactical side, Abby handling logistics and day to day operations, and you running the R&D side, we can really do something special I think. We even have a law witch and an accountant with my parents. Regardless of what the ICW says we're making the company and we're cleaning up the UK of the dark and the so called light. The only thing the ICW is really going to do is smooth out the government contracts and make sure the UK gets its shit together after the war." Harry said holding her close. Hedwig popped her puppy head out of Hermione's big bag and Harry gave her head scratches.

"It's a big ask Harry. You made it sound like she was going to act as your secretary." Hermione said.

"And she will, I'll take all the responsibility for any fuck ups the company makes, I'll sit in the big office under a glamour to make me look older. I'll meet with clients, important contractors, and all the shit that goes along with the job but I want her by my side the whole way. I'm good for the big stuff but I can't run a company. You could but it's a waste of your real god given talent of finding the solutions to problems. Your first goal is to figure out these paired portkeys. We can't pay $2,500 a set if we're going to use them like I think we're going to use them." Harry said.

"So I get the thankless task of figuring out how this is all going to work?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

"You say thankless but you know how many times we'd all be dead if it wasn't for you. The fact that we've been playing with a stacked deck just highlights your skills. And it's not going to all fall on your shoulders. You'll have a staff of as many researchers as you need. Maybe we can steal a few Unspeakables from the DoM?" Harry said laughing.

"We need books, you're Potter library is impressive but we need more." Hermione said already agreeing without realizing it.

"Every death eater we kill is an old pureblood with a manor house full of dark things. I'm sure a few thousand books won't be missed. I'm also sure Abby knows a few international book dealers." Harry said as the door to the shop opened and the rest of the group walked in minus Amelia. Harry smirked at his mum at the absence of the older witch. Andy saw the look and laughed.

"Don't you start with me. I didn't kill her, she's still under the knife. She's got a lifetime as an auror worth of damage to her body. It's going to take hours to heal it all and then she's going to be out for a lot longer. She's out for the rest of the day." Andy said.

"Great, then we can plot against her behind her back. We're talking about SSI and we said it would be nice to have an in house law witch and we're going to need a head of accounting. What do you guys say? You want to join the family business?" Harry asked with a laugh.

"Sure, I like it here." Andy said.

"But I just got Fuck you money Harry! I don't want to work." Ted whined in a comical way.

"Corner office, good pay, staff of your choosing, company car, and an apartment in the Potter or you can keep living with me." Harry said.

"Fine, but if you give me shit I walk." Ted said with a pout.

"Okay. But you also have to look after my finances and make sure I don't go broke." Harry said holding out his hand.

"Fine, but I only work three days a week and you have to buy me a bass fishing boat." Ted said.

"Four days a week and I'll buy you a marlin fishing boat big enough to hold all of us for weekend fishing trips." Harry said.

"Deal! You see, that's the way you negotiate dear. I got all that stuff and I still only have to work four days a week." Ted said with a big smile.

"You don't think my boy is going to look after me?" Andy asked.

"She gets everything you got plus she gets a bigger office on the top floor, and she makes more than you." Harry said with a smirk.

"Goddamnit." Ted said acting defeated.

"Well I have to look after my mum." Harry said.

"Harry remember my parents." Hermione said.

"Right, Dan how you would like to be in charge of the tactical side of the company?" Harry asked.

"What's the deal look like?" Dan asked getting into the fun of it.

"Same as my Mum. Corner office, top level pay, company car, apartment in the building when one opens up or you can stay with us." Harry said.

"I see, will my wife be given a position in said company?" Dan asked trying not to laugh.

"How about head research assistant to the head of R&D. What do you think Head of R&D?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I'd love to work with mum everyday. We'll spend most of our time hip deep in old magical tomes." Hermione said.

"I'm in!" Emma said hugging Hermione right off Harry's lap. Harry stuck out his hand to Dan.

"Me too. I'm in." Dan said shaking Harry's hand with a laugh.

"What about Me?" Dora asked.

"Top level recovery agent and head of the protection detail agents. You get the office next to me and Neville, top level pay, bonuses for recoveries, company car, and you can keep living with me or we can find you a place in the building." Harry said holding out his hand.

"I'm in. it will be nice to put my skills to go use." Dora said shaking his hand and hugging him with a big smile.

"I wouldn't do it without you. We're going to need help finding our brains when we get the company up and running." Harry said. That's when Neville, Luna, and Susan came out the back door with new wands.

"David said he's ready for the next group. I'm also going to need to borrow $10,000 for my wand. He needs to make me a gold wand like you got. I have this one for now but it might burn out." Neville said holding up a 14 inch long dark wood wand.

"Sure I'll spot you. Dan can you handle the bill when you guys are done? We'll head off to Geno's and we'll meet you at Moretti's for a late lunch. From there we'll head to the ICW meeting. Hermione would you like to take Amelia's place?" Harry asked handing Dan $30,000 in three packs of hundred dollar bills.

"I would. I wish I would have dressed for it." Hermione said.

"That's what we're stopping at Geno's for. I also wanted to talk to him about making vests and dragon hide lined coats and jackets. The armor worked but it was a bit bulky." Harry said standing up and stretching. He waved his hand over his suit to get the wrinkles out and put on his sunglasses.

"Okay, then we'll see you guys in about an hour." Hermione said leading the group out.

Harry walked out to his car as the group got in and dropped into the driver's seat. He started the car and pulled a can of Monster out of his bag. He waved his hand at the can, and it got frosty. He took a deep drink and set the can in the cup holder. He pulled out a small cigar and light it with his zippo. He puffed it a few times before he put the car in gear and darted into traffic heading east for Little Italy.

"You smoke Harry?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, you want one? These are really nice little cigars. Here try it." Harry said taking a deep drag on his cigar and handing it to Neville. Neville took an experimental puff and choked almost dropping the little cigar. Harry laughed.

"So that's what it looks like from the outside." Harry said as Neville tried a smaller puff and this time he didn't cough.

"Smooth. I'm used to a pipe, and very mild tobacco." Neville said passing it back as he hacked up something and spit it out.

"Here, have one of these. It will help with the coughing." Harry said pulling a second can of Monster out of his bag and chilled it with a wave of his hand as he passed it to Neville.

"I see you doing a lot of wandless magic Harry. Just how high up on the mage scale are you?" Susan asked.

"305 some days I'm a 310, somewhere around there. I've been trying to do more spells wandless. I'm good with the summoning charm and the cooling spell. I've played with a fire spell a bit as well. It's my hope to be able to do most spells wandless but it's not super important. You guys know me, I'm not interested in knowing every spell to start a fire I just want an easy to cast spell that works every time and if I have to do something big I'll push my power into it." Harry sad with an easy smile as the three smart girls in the back seat all let out differing levels of shocked gasps with Hermione being the least shocked and Susan being the most shocked.

"But Harry, it's important to have every tool at your disposal. If all you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail." Susan said.

"True, but I don't just have a hammer. I have a hammer, a drill, a set of wrenches, a saw, and a few screwdrivers. With that you can build a house. It might not be the most efficient way to build a house but unless you're going into construction then why learn the rest? I know about 75 spells, of that number 50 of them do more than one thing. Take for instance the fire spell. With a small amount of power I can light a candle. With a lot of power I can light a house on fire. One spell that can produce a small flame or can melt this car. I'm sure there are fifty different fire spells out there. But I learned one and practiced it until I can cast it with a wave of my hand and control it with a thought." Harry said with a shrug.

"That was well thought out and almost poetic Love. Who would have thought, Harry Potter, wizard and philosopher." Hermione said making them all laugh.

"I may be 5'10" but I'm deeper then I look." Harry said pulling into the fire hydrant spot in front of Geno's shop. They all got out and Harry shark the car. He lead them into the shop and saw Geno sitting behind the counter.

"Harry! It's good to see you!" Geno said coming around the counter to hug Harry like old friends.

"Geno, it's always good to see you. We need to fit these three for formal clothing, Hermione is also going to need something for a meeting in a few hours and I wanted to talk to you about a large order." Harry said.

"Well, why don't you and the big guy come back and we can talk while I work." Geno said leading the two guys back into his work room.

"Strip to your boxers and socks, get up on the box and stand with your arms out to the sides. Now what did you want to order?" Geno asked getting his tape measure.

"Geno do you work with Dragonhide?" Harry asked.

"I do, it's not easy to work with and it's hard to get. I charge a lot for it." Geno said having the tape measure start measuring Neville.

"How much would you charge for an armor vest like this?" Harry asked grabbing Neville's vest off the pile of clothes and handing it to the older man.

"Ah a Jorgensen. High quality but off the rack, you want me to make you a custom tailored vest?" Geno asked.

"No, I want you to make 2,000 of those vests. I also wanted to know if you can line a suit with dragonhide. If you can then I'll need less vests but more suits." Harry said watching the older man's eyes get bigger.

"2,000 vest!? What do you need that many vests for?" Geno asked.

"I'm building a private magical security company." Harry said with a shrug.

"Right, well for a vest like this with the custom fit enchantments and the transparent enchantments… for a big order like that? I can probably do it for about $7,500 a vest, mind you about half that cost is materials, Dragon hide doesn't grow on trees." Geno said trying to defend his price as he handed Neville a black three piece suit and white shirt like Harry was wearing.

"That's fine, how much would you charge if I got you a supply of high quality dragon hide?" Harry asked.

"If you supplied me with about 25 to 30 good sized adult Mexican orange dragon hides I could cut the price down to $4,500 a vest." Geno said.

"And what about a vest without the transparency enchantments?" Harry asked doing math in his head.

"That enchantment is the hardest part of the job. If I didn't need to do that work it's a simple tailoring job, and you're supplying the hides, I can do a large order like that for $2,500 a vest, but for that price you would get a very nice dyed white undershirt vest that would disappear under a white collared shirt with soft silk lining and my custom tailoring enchantments." Geno said.

"$2,500 a vest times 2,000 vests is…." Harry said looking like he was about to have an aneurysm.

"Five million dollars Harry. But if you where to buy them from Jorgensen they would charge you three times that much for plain black vests. For an order of the vest you have there, it would cost you about thirty million." Geno said making adjustments to Neville's suit.

"Trust me Geno, I'm not complaining. That's less than I thought it would be. What about the suit lined in dragon hide?" Harry asked.

"I can make it. But it would be big and bulky for no reason. If you want a bulletproof suit I can pull a few I have in your size." Geno said waving at the rack and the suits shuffled out and new suits shuffled in.

"What's it made out of?" Harry asked.

"I use enchanted fine stainless steel mesh screen that I enchant. It's sandwiched between the layers of fabric. The screen has cushioning charms on it to slow down the bullet and soften the impact. A suit like this cost about $750 more than a regular suit in the same cut. So for a three piece black three ply high twist wool suit with the mesh it costs $1,750." Geno said handing Harry an identical black three piece suit he was wearing in his size as he had Neville take off the suit.

"How big of a bullet with this stop?" Harry asked looking the suit over, he couldn't tell the difference from the suit he was wearing.

"The mesh is rated for anti-tank rounds but I wouldn't want to try it. It should stop a rifle round. But it's no good for stopping spells and magic like the dragon hide." Geno warned.

"No but with a vest under it you would be pretty much unstoppable. I'll take this suit now, I'm going to need three more in my size all in black, and so will Neville, and Dan. Do you make this in women's sizes?" Harry asked.

"I do. You want me to fit your girl for a suit?" Geno asked.

"Yes. Put it all on my tab. I'll be sending a few other people here for suits as well. I'll also get you the dragon hide in about two weeks or so. I'll deposit to five million in your account. Do you bank with the goblins?" Harry asked.

"I do not. I'll get you the account information when you drop off the hides." Geno said pulling suits.

"Good to know, I'll have Abby wire the money to your account. Hopefully it will be the last thing she does at the bank. I'm trying to steal her away from the goblins to work for me." Harry said and Geno looked even more shocked and happy.

"You can talk her away from the Bank? I've tried for years. That bank killed her parents. They were curse breakers." Geno said.

"I'm willing to give her anything to get her to work for me. In just a few short days she helped us really get our foot in the door here. The job pays twice as much as her job at the bank and comes with an enchanted company car, an apartment in a magical protected building, one of those vests, and a gun. She will be my second in charge." Harry said.

"Good. You get her to leave that bank and I'll give you a discount on big orders from now on." Geno said.

"Every agent will need three or four of these suits. I plan on hiring 250 agents. I'll put this one on now." Harry said taking off his jacket.

"One second," Geno said waving at the suit, it shifted slightly. "Now it has your measurements." He said.

By the time Susan and Luna were done getting fitted for business suits, dresses, and jackets, Harry and Neville were in matching suits, and Hermione was in a tight fitting tailored black three piece suit with a red silk blouse, and black high heeled pumps. The suit and shirt came from Geno but she pulled the shoes out of her bag which confused Harry.

"You carry high heels in your bag? Why?" Harry asked.

"You never know when you're going to need them, like now." She said primly as she pulled her hair into a bun and put on bright red lipstick. With just a few touches she went from girl next door to powerful sexy business women. She hit Harry with a sexy bedroom smirk and it made his pants uncomfortably tight.

"You look good like that." Harry said in a voice that wavered slightly as Hermione stepped right into his personal space and he caught a whiff of her lavender and citrus perfume.

"You like women in suits Harry? You like the power of it? You want to play boss and assistant later? Maybe you can get me coffee and the Johnson report." She said in a sexy whisper as she ran her hand down his chest. She grabbed his package when she said the word Johnson and Harry groaned.

"The things you do to me woman. If we didn't have a full day ahead of us I'd take you back to the apartment right now." Harry said in a deep voice full of raw need.

"What about a quicky in the bathroom when we get to the restaurant?" She asked liking the power behind his words.

"It wouldn't be enough space and time to do what I want to do to you." Harry whispered into her ear before hissing at her in parseltongue and making her shiver.

"Great, now my bra is uncomfortable and my knickers are wet. You happy? Now we're both turned on and uncomfortable." She said blushing.

"Good. Now you understand what I feel like all day when I'm around you." Harry said putting on his sunglasses and leading the group out. He didn't see Hermione's smile. They tossed their bags in the big trunk of his car and Harry practically flew to the restaurant five blocks away.

AN: This chapter was getting a little long in the so I'm cutting it here. The next chapter is going to be the meeting at the ICW and the fallout from that meeting.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: I'm back a few days early. thanks for letting me take the holidays off. I was supper busy with buying presents and family stuff. but i'm back now. i\I will be posting every monday from now on. you might want to go back and re read the last chapter. this one starts in the middle of the day.

Harry pulled into the parking lot of the Italian restaurant and handed his car off to the valet. He led the group of Hermione, Neville, Susan, and Luna into in. They saw the grownups sitting at a big table in the back.

"You guys got here fast." Dan said looking at his watch.

"Traffic was light." Harry said taking a seat at the table.

"That and he drives like a devil." Luna said.

"Thank you little sister. Remind me again why we brought you over?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"Cause you love me. And it's your job as my big brother to look after me." She said without missing a beat.

"Right." Harry said with a smile.

They all had a nice lunch/dinner full of light conversation and laughing. Harry partook in some of it but for the most part he was reserved and thoughtful. He kept glancing at his watch as the meal went on. Each time he looked he talked less and less. Everyone at the table saw it happen and they knew he had the weight of their future on his shoulders. At a quarter to five Harry looked at his watch one last time and looked to Dan.

"We have to start wrapping up. We have to make it to the UN building in a half hour." Harry said.

"Why don't you guys go and we'll stay and finish lunch, we got it from here. We need to take the group clothes shopping and then we need to go pick up the people we left at the doctor's office. We'll see you back at the house." Emma said.

"Right, take my case and pay for everything." Harry said pulling out his black metal briefcase full of money and handing it across the table to Emma as he stood up.

"I will Harry, don't worry guys, we have it easy." Emma said hugging her daughter and Harry before she kissed her husband.

Harry lead Dan, Andy, and Hermione out to the valet and got his car. Dan rode shotgun and he offered Harry a small cigar. Harry took it and light it with his zippo as he drove. He took a deep puff and breathed out slowly which calmed his nerves. Dan plugged his phone into the aux jack and ELO's Strange Magic came wafting out of the sound system and that made everyone smile.

"Good, you're calm. Look kid, you have to remember we don't really need these people. All we're getting from them is a piece of paper that says we can do what we like, and that they'll help put the UK back together when the dust settles. If we don't get that then we go along with your plan anyways and we buy a few congressmen to get the permits and licenses to build SSI. Abby says it's relatively cheap to do. Anything we get extra is icing on the cake." Dan said.

"And it's not going to all be on you, I know legal talk and I've practiced some diplomatic law so I'll help you the whole way." Andy said.

"And remember, your Harry Fucking Steel. Biggest bad ass in the room. They fuck with you, you walk out and tell them to kiss your ass as you leave." Hermione said shocking her dad but in a good way. He was glad to see she was taking charge more.

"Yes love. I'm glad you're coming with. I don't know what I was thinking earlier when I was going to leave you behind." Harry said.

"You should know by now you're stronger with me by your side." Hermione said.

"You're right. Now give me some bad ass music." Harry said.

"Coming right up." Dan said. The Champs -Tequila came blaring out of the sound system and they all broke up laughing. Dan hit stop and AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill came on.

"Now that's what I'm fucking talking about!" Harry said sitting up in his seat and nodding his head along with the song. By the time the song ended they could see the UN building. Harry followed the signs for the parking entrance. He took one last puff of his cigar, flicked it out the window, and hit it with a wandless vanishing spell before it landed as he pulled up to the gate guard.

"Name." The guard asked.

"Harry Steel. I have a 5:30 appointment with Marcus Walker." Harry said looking at his watch. They were about twenty minutes early.

"I see you on the list. Park in the garage up ahead and you're looking for the ICW building on your left it the smaller building made of brick." The guard said as a second guard and a bomb sniffing dog walked around the car.

"Thank you." Harry said driving over to the garage. Harry found a spot and pulled in. As they were getting out of the car Dan stopped Harry.

"Hey kid, I think I know how to get these guys to respect you. Do you have your extra Sig p226 X-Five on you?" Dan asked pulling his out of his bag.

"I do." Harry said also pulling the big handgun out of his bag.

"Can you make a holster for it? Something we can clip on our belt." Dan asked.

"Mia?" Harry asked handing her the gun. She looked the gun over and made two leather holsters for the guns and handed it all back to Harry.

"There you go, it won't last long, maybe a few hours at most." She warned.

"We only need it for a few minutes. Harry put that gun on your hip. If they ask for your gun hand them that one, if they ask for your wand hand it over. You can still handle yourself if you need to." Dan said.

"What's the point of all this Dan?" Andy asked.

"The point is, they need us, they need us so much they are going to beg us to protect them and the UN. And we'll do it for free, if they play ball with us. The thing I've noticed since we've gotten here is the complacency. Look at the gate guard. He didn't check your IDs, he didn't check ours. He just nodded and let you through after the dog was done nosing around the car. We could have been anyone. The fact that we knew the name of someone on the list means nothing. With these bags we could have brought enough explosives into this building to level a city block. We're armed to the teeth. So if we can get into the office with this Marcus Walker fully armed then we should demonstrate just how easy he could have been killed. I think making the man afraid for his life and then handing him a solution to problems he didn't know he had will get us what we want." Dan said.

"And if they ask for the guns hidden under our jackets?" Andy asked.

"Then we play it straight." Dan said with a shrug.

"I like it. Let's go." Harry said leading the group out of the parking garage to the smaller three story brick building off to the side.

Inside the front door they fund a huge entry way bigger than the building was on the outside. Harry smiled as he looked around the 1950's style lobby made of marble and granite with brass everywhere. There was a large fountain in the center of the lobby with a big brass globe being held up by three brass wizards. There was a big front desk in the middle of the lobby manned by three big men in dark blue suits. There were four other men milling about the big lobby. Two men by the bank of elevators were dressed in the same suits with bulges under their jackets and earpieces in their ears. Harry clocked a guy sitting by a side door reading the paper. He was wearing a light gray suit but he had a bulge under his jacket and he watched them the whole time. He also saw a woman sitting in a side office with the door open. Harry approached the front desk with an easy smile.

"Hi, I'm Harry Steel, I have a 5:30 with Marcus Walker." Harry said.

"Right. You're on the list. Please surrender your wands." One the the guards said checking the list.

"Sure, hand them over guys." Harry said pulling back his jacket and handing over his gold wand. The guard took it and looked at it with shock. The guards level of shock went up as Harry pulled back the other side of his jacket and pulled the gun off his hip with slow and deliberate movements. He dropped the magazine out of the big handgun and racked the slide to clear the round in the pipe. Harry handed the gun over and put the loose round back into the mag and tucked the mag into his jacket pocket.

"I figured you'd want that as well." Harry said as Dan followed his lead and handed over his gun.

"Wand sir?" The guard asked taking the gun.

"I don't have one, I'm a squib." Dan said with a shrug as the two women stepped forwards and handed over their wands. The guard put everything into a felt lined bank box. He placed his hand on the scanner on the wall and a vault door opened. He set the box on a shelf and when he came out he handed Harry a small brass tag that said 54 on it.

"Thank's. I'm glad to see the vault, for a second there I thought you were going to keep our things at the front desk. That wand was as expensive as you can imagine, but what can you do? It's the cost of being an arch mage." Harry said trying to see if he could get a reaction out of the men. He got nothing.

"Mr. Walker is on the fifth floor suite 502." The guard said.

"Good to know. Thank you." Harry said leading the group to the elevators. He nodded to the guards standing by the doors as he called the elevator car. They stepped on and Harry waited until the doors closed to look at the group.

"It's worse than I thought. All those guys standing guard and not one of them did their job. You practically told them you could do wandless magic." Dan said shaking his head as the doors opened up to an average looking white hallway lined with glass doors.

They found 502 and Harry lead them in. They saw a good sized waiting room with two couches, three chairs, a wet bar, and a reception desk. Sitting at the desk was an older lady in her late sixties. She was dressed in a mint green Chanel suit and her white hair was done up in a beehive bun. She had thick horned rimmed glasses and she wore enough makeup for two faces but she had hard eyes. Eyes that followed them the whole time. Harry approached the desk with a smile on his face. He glanced down at her desk and saw a brass name plate that said Doris. He also saw a wand stuck in a pen holder on her desk and a ten inch long letter opener on her desk that looked sharp enough to eviscerate a man.

"Hi, I'm Harry Steel. I have a 5:30 appointment with Mr. Walker. We're early." Harry said glancing at the clock on the wall. It was just past five.

"Do you have any Identification?" she asked calmly.

"I do." Harry said deliberately reaching for his wallet quickly. Doris flinched ever so slightly. Her body tensed and her hand jerked for the knife but it stopped. Harry pretended not notice it as he brought out his wallet and handed her his driver's license. She looked it over and looked at Harry's face before she handed it back to him.

"Yes you do have an appointment, and yes, you will have to wait. Mr. Walker is out of the office at the moment. Would you like something to drink while you wait?" She asked with a friendly enough tone but her eyes followed them. Doris might be a secretary now but she wasn't always a paper pusher.

"A bottle of water if you have one." Harry asked hoping to see how she moved.

"There are bottles of water in the fridge by the wet bar." She said pointing to the wall next to the chairs on the other side of the room. It was obvious she was onto them or she, unlike the rest of the guards knew her job and took it serious.

"Thank you Doris." Harry said walking over to the bar. Dan joined him as Hermione took a seat in one of the chairs next to Andy.

"She's good. About a thousand times better than the lobby guys." Dan said preparing two cups of coffee.

"I know. I think we include her in the plan. If we don't there's a good chance someone will end up hurt. She's no paper pusher and she's not as old as she looks. She's old but she's powerful. She's got the reflexes of a woman half her age, and young very cold eyes." Harry said.

"Feel her out." Dan said walking away with the two cups of coffee and a bottle of water. Harry took a bottle and walked back over to the desk.

"Doris, how much does the ICW spend on the guard force downstairs?" Harry asked.

"Why do you want to know?" She asked suspiciously.

"Look, Doris, we both can spot a killer when we see one. Your eyes haven't left me or Dan since we approached the door to the office. I could lie to you and bull shit you. But the truth is I'm here because the UK is a mess and the only way to fix it is by killing a bunch of bad folks. I'm here to pitch your boss on the idea of backing my security company in a bid to clean up the UK and put it back together under the ICW's power. To prove we're not full of crap we were going to scare your boss into listening to our pitch by showing him how lax the security around the building is. Which it is. You and I both know it is. The guards at the front gate are a joke and the guards in the lobby are just as bad if not worse. So I was just wondering how much these clowns were charging the ICW for their terrible service." Harry said taking a sip of water from his bottle.

"Too much if you ask me." Doris said looking at Harry like he was a long division problem.

"Doris. I'm going to reach under my jacket and pull out the gun I have hidden in a shoulder rig." Harry sad setting down his water bottle on the desk and showing her both of his hands. She looked at him and nodded her head. Harry pulled back his jacket with his left hand and with his thumb and index fingers he pulled the gun out of the holster making both visible. He dropped the mag and cleared the round in the chamber and set the gun on the desk.

"Now I walked in with that and no one stopped me. In fact no one even asked to see my ID. We all have a gun like this. We also all have these bags as you can see? This is just a small sample of what's in the bag." Harry said reaching into the bag and pulling his HK416 rifle out of the bag and setting it on her desk.

"My god." Doris said shaking her head. Harry put the rifle back in the bag.

"We are wearing body armor, the guns are all enchanted to be silent and to hold 10x the number of rounds. With just the handgun and the armor I could have killed everyone in this building and it would have taken a good long time for anyone to even know what was going on. What's worse is I could have brought a thousand pounds of C4 or a tactical nuclear weapon in this bag and no one would have known. We came here today to talk about the problems we were having in the UK. But my god the problems you guys have here could be way worse. What happens if someone brings a nuke in a bag like this into the building and sets it off? It takes out the ICW, the UN, and half of Manhattan. What happens if that bomb goes off during a meeting of the UN?" Harry asked in a calm voice like he was talking about afternoon tea.

Doris looked visibly shaken at the thought. She stood up on unsteady feet and walked over to the wet bar to get a bottle of water. As she walked Harry found her gate odd. He looked at her shoes and saw men's black leather oxfords. That's when things started clicking into place in Harry's mind and his grin got bigger. It looked like he wasn't going to have to wait for the meeting he had a feeling he just talked to Marcus Walker.

"Marcus Duck!" Harry called out suddenly and Doris spun around looking for the threat before she locked eyes with Harry and smiled a defeated smile.

"Good work Mr. Steel. Or should I say Potter?" Doris asked pulling a small vial from her pocket. She drank it and in a matter of seconds a six foot tall large man with salt and pepper close cut hair and a goatee was standing there in a dress. He pulled a wand out of his jacket pocket and waved it over himself and the green suit turned into a dark gray suit, white shirt and dark blue tie.

"Steel if you please. The name has less baggage and more power. Or it will in about three to six months time. At that point Steel Security and Insurance will be up and running. It's my hope to have between 750 - 1,500 magical military trained men under my command separated into teams of between 6- 12 men. I plan on infiltrating the UK and starting a campaign of war and terror to take back the island from the two groups of fools that run it at the moment. It was my hope to come here today and secure the ICW's permission and backing in this war with a hope that after the island has been cleared of all the shit you guys would come in and take over until a new independent government can be elected. But now that I see the level of security you have here I think I'll also be taking over ICW security as well because, my good God, what you have now is both lacking and sad." Harry said calmly loading his gun and putting it back into his shoulder rig.

"I think we should step into my office and really talk. You see we know very little about the UK because ever since they pulled out of the ICW in the early 80's we've been prohibited from entering the Island in an official capacity and our spy network is only so good. We can only be in so many places at once. The ICW has no military, and as powerful as people think we are, we really have very little real power in the world. We have a network of 60 to 80 agents around the world and they are not spies trained in tradecraft. They are diplomats. We are a diplomatic service that tries to keep the piece between countries so the French magicals don't go to war with the German magicals because of trade deals over potion ingredients." Marcus said leading them through the door into a big office with a desk, a couch, three chairs, and a big conference table that sat twenty. They all took seats at the conference table.

"So what you're saying is you're not an all powerful group like the United Nations. You're more like a trade council?" Dan asked.

"Yes and no. We're chartered to police the magical world. We have laws separate from the rest of the world. We could have an army if we wanted one and we had the resources to build one. The truth is back in the 1950's when this all got started we were powerful. We had 500 agents all around the globe watching and spying on the magic world looking out for the next dark lord. We had an international Auror force of a 1,000 mages made up of a coalition of Aurors from around the world. We stood ready to fight the dark. We helped out as much as we could during the beginning of the cold war but the representative from the UK, Romulus Fudge put forth a decree that we should not involve ourselves in the problems of Muggles or draw ourselves into their war. It was met with mixed feelings but Fudge was a good talker. A week later the proposal was signed by most of the ICW representatives. That was in 1959. When we pulled out of the non magical world it spelled the beginning of the end of our power structure. With no wars being fought in the magic world and not being able to help in the non magical cold war the ICW security council slowly dried up. Member nations stopped pledging agents and Aurors. Then they stopped sending money. Then they started pulling out altogether. It started with the UK again. Fudge died in the late 70's and the UK didn't send a representative for years. Instead they sent a letter of withdrawal in 1982. With the UK out, a lot of her former colonies backed out like most of the African nations. And if they didn't pull out they stopped meeting their funding goals. And they stopped attending meetings. At this point the ICW is a toothless guard dog watching over the magical world's economy." Marcus said in a voice thick with exhaustion. As if the act of saying it out loud took something out of him.

"So you have no idea what's going on in the UK?" Harry asked.

"We have been looking at the UK situation from afar and we know in broad terms how bad it is over there. We heard from other European ICW nations that the UK is a nightmare. We've heard tails of a dark uprising. And the enforcement of a statue of secrecy. We've heard of corruption in the ministry and the double standards for wealth mages. We instituted a blockade of the UK but it's paperwork and nothing more. So, how bad is it?" Marcus asked looking like he didn't really want to know. As if knowing the truth would make it real and make it his problem.

"Bad. Lets just start with the fact that magical Britain still thinks they are members of the ICW. They think Dumbledore is the UK representative and oh by the way he's also the head of the ICW." Harry said sarcastically.

"My God. It's that bad?" Marcus asked sitting back in his seat.

"Oh, that's nothing. It get much, much worse than that. I started off with the funny part of this story." Harry said with a mirthless smile.

"I think I better get this on tape so I can bring it right to my bosses." Marcus said turning on a small camera in the corner of the room.

"Okay, lay it on me." Marcus said.

"Let's talk about Pureblood laws." Harry said going into a two and a half retelling of the events of the last forty years since the UK left the ICW. Hermione and Andy helped out where they could. In fact Andy talked the most in the beginning covering things before Harry was even born. By the end Marcus looked pale and sickly. Harry chose to end with the Order because he knew the marriage contracts sealed with rape would have the most impact.

"Fuck me sideways." Marcus said.

"That sums it up nicely. Now what can you do about it?" Dan asked.

"Not much. Like I said the ICW doesn't have an army, we barely have agents. We don't have the budget to hire an army and even if we did it's a gray area at best. The UK is not a member of the ICW." Marcus said.

"So if a private security company was to volunteer to take over the policing of the magical world you would accept our help?" Harry asked.

"Mr. Steel, at this point, I'd be willing to help as much as I can and I know I can get the rest of the ICW security council to sign off on your plans. We have very little to lose here. My question is what do you want from us?" Marcus asked.

"We want legal documents stating that SSI is protected under the ICW. I want a license to kill signed by the head of the ICW and the Security Council. I don't want to fight a war only for some government fool to turn around and put me on trial for killing a bunch of death eaters, murderers and rapists just to help their polling numbers." Harry said.

"I can do you one better. How would you like to be free of all laws except for the laws of the ICW? I think I can do that if you're willing to sign a piece of paper saying you work for the ICW as our independent contractors. If you'll be our boots on the ground around the world I can make it so you can do whatever you want, within reason. It does mean you will always have to answer our call. You would, in essence become the Security Council's military arm. But for this to work I think I might have to try to toss out the law prohibiting magicals from fighting in non magical wars. It's a law the US government has been wanting the ICW to end since the cold war. The US government have magical agents working for their spy services, but they can't technically have mages fight wars with magic thanks to that stupid law." Marcus said thinking out loud.

"That's fine but if we think a situation too dangerous or too much for SSI to handle then we reserve the right to say no. Now I doubt we'll ever really say no to too much but it's something I have to have the power to do. If, for some reason the company starts to go under in a few years then it would be in my best interest as well as the ICW's best interest to try to dig SSI out of the hole before we try to fight a war." Harry said after a brief conversation with Dan.

"That's fine. In fact it smart. But you will have to offer help when you can. For this to work you would have to become the ICW's fighting force just like the UN has troops you would become our troops. If something bad happens in an ICW country, a dark uprising, an infestation of dark creatures, a terror attack, a bad natural disaster, or something like that. You would have to look at the situation and think about where you can help and if you can help then you have to try." Marcus said.

"Agreed, but for that I want my men to carry ICW badges and be free of any laws in the world. That includes everything from laws against spying and murder to speeding and littering. For us to do the job of protecting the world we're going to have to step on toes. I want to hire a bunch of house elves as spies. No one notices a house elf. They can get in anywhere and they can set up magical bugs. We will report directly to you on all of our activities. We will confess all of our sins to you and if you think we went over the line you can punish us but I can tell you now, we're not going to go around killing people for the hell of it. This is precautionary." Harry said.

"That sound good to me. What else do you want? Lets get it all on the table so I know what I have to work with. So far none of this sounds bad for us. We're getting a private security company to work for us. What do you guys want and need to do the job?" Marcus asked with a smile as he took notes.

"Harry, we should add search and seizure to the list. If we hit a bunch of old pureblood homes we should be able to take their books and gold. The same with drug lords and mob guys in the future. We'll help out law enforcement but we get to keep the goods." Hermione said.

"That's a good point. I want to add that to the list. Is there a way you can make that legal?" Harry asked.

"There is if we word it right. It's also a good idea. It will also keep the company afloat. And show that you're willing to help local law enforcement with their problems. I like it. What else?" Marcus asked writing this all down.

"Military hardware. We need a way to buy military hardware at a discount like a government can. Things like weapons, ammo, explosives, airplanes, and helicopters. Things that require a military authorization. We also need the military discount when it comes to buying things like that. We can't rely on just our contacts. It would be nice to call up Sig Sauer and have them sell us 1,500 p226 tacops handguns at a good discount. It could end up saving us millions in start up costs." Dan said.

"Sounds easy enough. I can talk to a few guys at the Pentagon and get you some kind of pass to buy in bulk." Marcus said adding it to the list.

"How about Tax exemptions? We're going to need to buy or build a big office building here in New York. That's going to be expensive. If you can't pay us for the work we'll be doing for the ICW, can we at least get good tax breaks and exemptions?" Andy asked.

"I'll see what I can do. If we can't then we'll cover most of the cost of taxes and I'll see what funds we have on hand we can give you for start up costs. What else?" Marcus asked.

"We need access to troop records and things like that. We plan on hiring ex-military. We need access to their military records to see what their fitness reportes were like. We don't want to hire some loose cannon that likes killing and can't control his trigger finger. Especially if we're authorized by you to use deadly force. We want the option to kill. We don't need guys that like to do it." Dan said.

"Good call. I'll get you into the Pentagon to sit down with someone there. The same in the UK as well." Marcus said.

"We also need access to record for HR. We're going to need to hire a lot of staff to get the company up and running. We need agents, healers, researchers, enchanters, and office workers. We need access to background checks. Things like that." Hermione said.

"That I can do easy. I can also get you meetings with the top magical schools in the country so you can get names of good people to hire." Marcus said.

"I think that's a good start for now. Let's see where this gets us. We'll reconvene in a few days and see if we can get most of that. If you need to call me this is my number. I'm hoping to have a full time assistant soon. I just have to steal her away from the goblins. For now you can reach me at that number 24/7. We are going to be dealing with some personal matters for the next week but I'm hoping to make another trip to the UK soon. We have friends we left over there and I'd like to get them out soon. Before we head back there I'd like some kind of paperwork stating that I'm an agent of the ICW in case I have to shoot a few of these fuckers like I did last time." Harry said standing up and handing Marcus a card with his number on it. The fact that he made said card wandlessly was just putting the cherry on top.

"You'll be hearing from me in the next few days. I'll have ICW credentials for all of you. You'll be on the list for the building. You won't have to check your wands at the door or your guns. Not that you did." Marcus said laughing.

"It was easier to make my point with it." Harry said with a shrug and a grin.

"And you did. As soon as you have your company up and running I'd really appreciate it if we could be your first clients. The ICW would gladly pay you what we pay those ass clowns to do the job of securing the campus." Marcus said walking them out of the office. They saw a woman in her late fifties dressed in the same suit Marcus was earlier, but she didn't look like the woman he was pretending to be.

"So this must be the real Doris. It's nice to meet you." Harry said shaking the woman's hand. She had a nice grandmotherly way about her.

"Yes. This is the woman that runs my life for me. Doris get these people my card and also copy their IDs so we can add them to the system." Marcus said.

"Yes sir." Doris said with a smile showing the 'Sir' was sarcastic.

By the time they finished exchanging information and getting their guns and wands from the front desk it was half past eight when they walked out to the car. Dan called Emma to tell her how it went and to ask how everything was at home. They had just come back from the doctor's office after picking up the Longbottoms and Amelia. A nurse followed them home and helped them get Neville's parents into bed.

Harry drove towards his house and stopped on the way to get ten pizzas. By the time they got to the Potter it was just after nine. When they walked in they found the house mostly quite. It seemed like everyone picked a room and found something to do. Harry put the pizzas on the kitchen counter and headed off to the west wing to check on Neville's parents. He found Neville's folks laying in twin beds with IV lines in their arms and monitors hooked to their chests. A nurse with short black hair and a soft warm face was sitting between the two beds reading a book and checking monitors. She looked up when he walked in and smiled at him.

"Hi, Harry Steel. We've meet at Doc Carter's office earlier. Maria right?" Harry asked shaking her hand.

"Yes. You have a lovely home Mr. Steel." She said blushing.

"Thank you, call me Harry. How our they doing?" Harry asked.

"Good. They are responding to the treatment well. The healing tonic and protein potions are rebuilding their bodies. They've both gained about ten pounds in the last six hours but as you can see they are both still very frail and and underweight. They will need a lot of help when they get up." Maria said looking sadly at the two emaciated people.

"Well it's good they're getting better. Keep up the good work and don't hesitate to ask me for anything. You're a guest of my home. If you need something let me know and I'll get it for you. I brought pizza. Make sure you get a few slices." Harry said with a smile as he walked out of the the room. There was a knock at the front door as he was making his way to the east wing to find the rest of the group. Harry opened the door and found Walter the head mechanic standing their.

"Hey Walter, come in. What can I do for you?" Harry asked.

"A few days ago you asked me to look over your cars and tell you which ones were too valuable to let out of the building. I just got off work and I was free. I saw you were home and decided to come up and take a look." Walter said.

"Sure. Would you like some pizza? I just bought a bunch of pizzas and I was going to round up the rest of the house. After we eat I'll take you to the vault." Harry said leading Walter to the east wing. They found most of the women in the library with the exception being Dora. It was quickly becoming the place to gather for a quiet chat.

"We got pizza, come and eat before the guys devour it all." Harry said from the dorway.

"We're coming Harry." Hermione said.

Harry walked down the hall to the game room and found all of the guys and Dora smoking cigars and drinking as they played pool, darts, and air hockey.

"I got Pizza, come and grab a few slices." Harry said.

Harry lead Walter to the dining room and had the man take a seat as he brought out cans of soda and beer. The group filled in to the dining room in ones and twos. Harry took a seat at the head of the table. Soon everyone was seating at the table with a plate of pizza and a drink.

"Harry. Hermione and Andy were just telling us the meeting went well." Amelia said.

"Yes. I'm hoping to have documentation in a few days from the ICW. At that point we become untouchable. We can walk through the world without fear of being arrested if we have to kill a bunch of fools. Once we have ICW badges we can start making regular trips back and forth to the UK to start getting people out. I hope to get everyone we can out in the next two weeks. Then I want to take a nice long road trip around the US. It will give us a chance to see some of this big country, and it will get the rest of the group used to driving. I want to buy small office buildings in big cities around the country and set up portkeys to those places." Harry said.

"Good thinking. That sounds like fun." Emma said.

"It sounds like a waste of time to me. Why not just buy portkeys to these cities? It will save time." Amelia said. She didn't see the dirty looks thrown her way but Susan did. The girl shook her head.

"People have to get used to driving, because everyone uses a car to get around here. None of us younger guys can apparate. Besides, it will give us all a chance to just relax for a few weeks. By the end of July we're going to go into full training and building mode and that's going to grind us all into the ground. I want most of the company set up by the end of October. That way we can take it easier around the holidays and get a fresh start in the new year." Harry said.

"I'd like to go back home sooner than that. I'd like to establish a foothold over there. With no one to run the DMLE and no one to oppose the old man he's going to run amuck. Even if I still live here and commute to the UK everyday to work I'd like to go back and start the fight in the courts and the press. I think if we got the truth out there we could turn a few purebloods to our side before a war even starts." Amelia said.

"No Aunty! It's too Dangerous!" Susan said looking shocked.

"I'll be fine, I'll have the dragon hide armor and the gun. If things go bad I'll us the portkey and come right back here. I need to see if I can get a handle on my department. Also with the information Andy and the goblins gathered against the old man I'd like to start a smear campaign in the press using the quibbler." Amelia said waving off her niece's concerns with a dismissive hand.

Harry sat in silence for a few seconds as he played it out in his head. A part of him, the not so nice part of him said 'fuck her. Let her go and get killed like the rest of the closed minded foolish purebloods.' But the rest of him knew this was dangerous for no reason. It would tip their hand if she was caught and it would expose their planes to the enemy for not much ground gained. But did he really have a choice? She was a grown ass witch. Head of the DMLE and she had some amount of power over there. And who knows, maybe having a spy working behind the scenes with the goblins and the Aurors was a good thing?

"Amelia, as much as I want to tell you not to go back, I have no right to. I can ask that you use different hubs in the portkey network to get to and from the island every time you go. It will stop them from tracking you back here. I also have to ask you to wear some kind of mind shield. The old man is a master of the mind arts, if you ever find yourself in the same room as him make sure you're not alone. If you are, it's too late. With that being said, if you get the chance to kill the old fuck take it. Him being dead is worth more then anything you can do over there. Put a bullet in his head and portkey out." Harry said.

"I can do all of that. I really just want to walk into the ministry and see how it feels. The dark lord was too quiet before we left. You said you managed to shoot the old man. Who knows, maybe we have a window of opportunity here to sow the seeds of rebellion before either side gets back up. Just getting the information out there that the old man is not the Head of the ICW, that we're not even a member of the ICW, and the old man has been playing us all along might damage him. It will at least make him expand his political capital hushing it up and that will give you more time to build up your army." Amelia said.

"Like I said, maybe it's a good idea? Maybe it's a death trap? Maybe you get captured the second you walk into the ministry building and it blows our whole operation? Who knows?" Harry said.

"I have to do something Harry. I spent my life building a reputation and clawing my way up to a position of power. I can't just abandon my post now." Amelia said.

Harry just nodded and shrugged. They finished eating in relative uncomfortable silence. Everyone scarfed down their pizza as fast as the hot cheese would allow so they could get out of the room and the uncomfortable silence. When he was finished Harry lead Walter out of the room and down the hall to his master bedroom. He opened the vault and Walter looked over the small cars on the shelf.

"Just from looking at them I can say that most of these should not leave this vault. You have to remember I worked on a few of these. But most of this is from other Potters. If one of them died they willed their cars to Charles hoping he would keep them. He did, but he never spent much time messing with them aside from the enchantments on the engine and what not. So you do have a bunch of cars that you could daily drive. Especially with enchantments placed on engines and shielding. Technically you could drive all of these but milage kills price. Like look at this, this one right here is a 1920's Bentley race car, it's almost priceless. And I know for a fact that this one is a 1953 Chevy Corvette C1 with a serial number like 0005 or 0006. Again, priceless. This is new, is this…? Jesus Christ! It's a Mercedes 540k roadster. There are like six of these left in the world and Charles has it sitting here. Harry you have to open a car museum. People have to see this kind of stuff." Walter said.

"We'll put a display in the lobby of the SSI building and have a few of these cars on display. Maybe I'll find a bunch of classics and open a museum. How many cars do you think we can use?" Harry asked.

"What's your definition of useable?" Walter asked.

"Cars worth less than $250,000. And nothing so rare it would draw a huge crowd if it rolled down the street." Harry said.

"Right, well you have a bunch of stuff that fits that category. We're going to have to grab a bunch of these and bring them to the study to expanded them so I can take a look at the date codes and specs to make sure." Walter said.

"Do you think the floor in here will hold up?" Harry asked waving to the big empty space in the huge room.

"It most likely will but why take the chance? Can you make a box for me?" Walter asked and Harry conjured a box. Walter took it and setting a few car in it. He took a few minute to pick through the 64 cars and put 15 cars in the box before turning to Harry.

"I think this is it. Of this batch you might have a few rare ones. Maybe ten of these fit your requirements." Walter said.

"Good. Like I said I want to do a big road trip where everyone drives their own car. After they know how to drive and they know what they like we'll take them to Miguel's shop and get them a nice modern car they can beat on and drive everywhere." Harry said as they walked to the study. They saw a small group sitting around the Longbottom's sitting room. He waved Walter on and look in. He saw Neville, Susan, Emma, Andy, and Hermione in the sitting room. At his questioning look Hermione filled him in.

"Doctor Carter is in there giving them the first does of the cure." She said.

"Right. Then why does everyone look like you're waiting for a death notice?" Harry asked getting a few shocked looks from the women around the room.

"Harry!" Hermione said.

"What? Look you guys are doing this all wrong. This is good. We should be celebrating! You'll be getting your folks back in a few days! Come on Neville. I've got a 25 year old scotch and a cuban cigar with your name on it. Lets go." Harry said pulling his brother out of the room. He pushed the bigger boy out the door gently and looked back at the women. Most of them still looked torn, but Hermione shook her head a smiled.

"We'll take care of this." She said.

"Good. I love you." Harry said walking out of the room and meeting Neville in the hallway. He looked conflicted. Harry gripped his shoulder.

"Came on. I have Walter sifting through the cars I have to see which ones we can use." Harry said leading him to the east wing. Neville had a contemplative look in his eyes the whole way to the study. They found Walter under the hood of a silver convertible.

"How's it going Walter?" Harry asked.

"This is a good car to drive. There's evidence of structural damage that's been repaired by magic, ad the car has a rebuilt title. Also every car has a facts sheet in the glove box. Charles did this exact same thing we're doing now before he put the cars away. All we have to do is expand the cars and read the facts sheet." Walter said coming out from under the hood to look at them. He had a sheet of paper in his hand and a sad grin on his face.

"I'm starting to wish I was more detail oriented like my grandfather. This is a nice little car. What is it?" Harry asked dropping into the driver's seat and sinking into the black leather.

"This is a 1969 Mercedes 280sl Pagoda. With very low miles and enough enchantments to rival your Ferrari." Walter said.

"Hey Nev, you wanted a nice classic convertible, what do you think?" Harry said getting out and waving him over as he walked to the other side of the room where the bar was.

"It's nice, it's a bit small." Neville said sitting in the car. Harry walked over with three floating rocks glasses with scotch and three cigars.

"Then we'll give it to one of the girls. Or I'll keep it as a weekend driver. Here, take this and this." Harry said handing Neville a glass and a cigar.

"Thanks Harry, I've never smoked a real cigar before. Your little cigar was very strong. I've puffed on my grandfather's pipe a few times, and my gran used to smoke these thin cigarettes full of this nasty black sticky tobacco from the middle east." Neville said lighting the cigar with Harry's zippo as Harry passed a glass and cigar to Walter.

"I like them. I'm not a fan of cigarettes. I love the little cigars, but these big cuban cigars are very nice. And they pair well with this smoky scotch." Harry said shrinking the car with a wave of his hand and setting it on a cleaned off tool cart. He floated the next car to the open floor space and expanded it.

"Nice little classic Mark 1 Mini Cooper. Very much a drivers car." Walter said slipping into the little british racing green car with white hood stripes. He pulled the facts sheet out to looked it over.

"It's cute, I don't know if I could fit in it. But it's cute." Harry said.

"It's about the size of one of my shoes." Neville agreed with a smirk.

"We'll give it to Luna." Harry agreed switching out that one for a second Mini. This one was red with white hood stripes and a Union Jack on the roof.

"Now this one might not be a daily driver. It's a 1974 Mark two Mini Cooper S." Walter said.

"We'll put it in the maybe pile." Harry said shrinking it and expanding the next car.

They kept at it for an hour. By the end, every guy in the apartment was in the study drinking and smoking. They compiled a stack of cars for everyone to use and a stack of cars to put back away. They still ended up with a good list of cars. With the two minis and the Mercedes Pagoda they had a baby blue 1965 mustang convertible sitting low and fat, a 1967 Alfa Romeo GT junior 1600 in red with wide race tires, a white 1973 Datsun 240z wide body race car, 1968 plum red Mercury Cougar convertible with a big block V8 swop, race suspension, and fat tires, 1971 BMW e9 3.0 coupe in black, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird convertible in avocado green, 1987 Buick GNX in all black, and a 1961 Datsun 1200 roadster that was so small only Harry fit behind the wheel comfortably.

The guys all made a trip downstairs and traded out the three priceless classics for the eleven cars they found in the vault. When they got back to the apartment everyone went their separate ways but Neville hung back with Harry. Harry saw the look on his friend's face and lead him to the shooting room.

"I put a 150 round down range every night. It keeps me sharp. It's something you should start doing as well." Harry said.

"I'll follow your lead." Neville said.

"Okay, I like to run a multi target drill but let's set up a single target for you. While I do that why don't you tell me what's on your mind?" Harry said bringing a target closer.

"Harry, do you think my parents are going to be pissed at me for ending my line and taking the name Blackwell?" Neville asked.

"No, I think they'll understand it was the only way to get out of a marriage contract. How are you with that by the way? You understand what happened?" Harry asked waving him up to the firing line.

"I understand, Andy talked to me about it. So did my gran. My god Harry, My gran." Neville said setting the gun on the table and lowering his head.

"That's not on you either. It's on the old man." Harry said placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But it happened and it's another thing to add to the list of shit I have to tell them. Hi I'm your son who faked his death to drop his family name, oh by the way your mother is dead. Also you we're left like that for fifteen years because I was too stupid to look outside the UK for treatment options. But don't worry we're living in the US in my friend's house because we're on the run from the headmaster and a dark lord. But at least Harry figured out a way to fix that. Not that I was much fucking help!" Neville ending his rant with a frustrated yell that broke him. He started crying. Sobs racked his body as his legs started to buckle. Harry conjured a couch and pulled the bigger boy into it.

"Neville. Take it from a guy that lives with the world's guilt on his shoulders. It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. And I know you don't believe me. You won't believe me until they wake up and tell you the same fucking thing I'm telling you right now. It's. Not. Your. Fault!" Harry said.

"But I traded in my father's name Harry." Neville said and Harry now knew what Dan felt like when they had this same fucking conversation a week ago. Neville sounded like a fucking fool. He bet he sounded worse when he said the same thing.

"And if you didn't you'd still be married to some poor girl you barely know and the old man would still have a Will that gave him everything if you died. How long would you have lived last night? Do you think he would have killed you, your gran, and your folks? I do. He must be hard up for cash with me gone. Your family fortune must have looked real good to him. You did what you had to do to get out from under the old man's control. You have less to be ashamed of then I do. I ended my family line and I was happy to do so. I was happy to not be Harry Potter any more. I like the name Steel. It comes with none of the baggage of my old life and all of the power and benefits of my new life. Your father is still a Longbottom. If you want, you can take your name back. I ending the Potter name. You ran away from the UK because it was a steaming pile of shit. You're living with me because it's fucking convenient. You just got here. You can find a place of your own as soon as your parents get up. But I want you to know you don't have to and I don't want you to. Neville we didn't have much family growing up. But now we're living in a house full of people we love and respect. Also that cock block Amelia." Harry added making Neville choke on his own spit he laughed so hard and unexpectedly.

"She really is the worst." Neville said.

"Snooty pureblood. I'm shocked Susan is so nice." Harry agreed.

"She was mainly raised by Hannah Abbott and her mum Mary. I met them, they're nice people. We need to get them out of the UK." Neville said.

"We'll add them to the list." Harry said nodding.

"Thank's Harry. I needed to hear all that." Neville said feeling embarrassed about his outburst.

"Neville. You're mum is my Godmother. If the old man didn't seal the will I should have grown up right by your side as your brother. I know I've been a shit friend to you over the years. I was being lead around by Ron and I didn't know it. But that's not the case anymore and I want to really try to be the big brother you deserve." Harry said.

"Big Brother? We're the same age. In fact we have almost the same birthday." Neville said trying not to laugh.

"Right, but I was born two hours before you. That makes me older. It also makes you my kid brother." Harry said.

"Kid Brother!?" Neville squawked.

"Right. It's good you know your title kid brother. Now let's finish the shooting drill so I can go drill my insanely hot girlfriend. Maybe someday you'll get to see a boob little bro." Harry said getting up from the couch.

"How dare you!" Neville said.

"Oh you like boys? We'll find you a nice boy then." Harry said waving his hand behind him and vanishing the couch dropping Neville onto his ass.

"Aw. You dick!" Neville said rubbing his ass.

"Come on, up you get Dorthy we have work to do." Harry said.

"You are taking this older brother bullshit too far." Neville said sweeping Harry's legs out from under him and Harry landed hard on the marble floor next to him.

"OH. You fuck!" Harry said rolling over onto his side to look at Neville.

"Not nice is it?" Neville asked getting up and helping the smaller man to his feet.

"No it's not. I feel mildly sorry for putting you on your ass." Harry said.

"Mildly?" Neville shot back.

"Yeah. I got a decade and a half of older brother ass whoopings to hand out kid bro." Harry said with a smirk.

"I have half a mind to shove your little ass in a trunk and lock you in." Neville said trying not to laugh as he looked menacingly at Harry.

"There you two are. You're goofing off in the gun range. The rest of the house is in bed." Hermione said walking into the room. Her hair was loose and she was wearing a heavy bathrobe and slippers.

"Sorry Mia." Harry said.

"It's my fault, Harry was helping me get over some stuff floating around in my head." Neville said.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt then. You two boys have fun. I have a book I can get back to." Hermione said turning to leave.

"Wait." Neville said taking three big steps and pulling her into a hug. "Thanks for looking after my parents with doc Carter." Neville said.

"Of course Neville. We have to stick together. You're family after all." Hermione said.

"Still, you sat there and took care of that when I couldn't." Neville said.

"You didn't have to. It shouldn't fall on your shoulders alone. Harry was right to get you out of that room. Also we moved your stuff to the African Safari room across the hall from your parent's room so the nurse could take a nap in your bed. So make sure you knock before you open the door." Hermione said.

"Okay. Thanks for the heads up." Neville said ducking his head a bit.

"Try to relax a bit, you're going to have a lot to do in a few days when they get up. You're going to have to get them walking and moving around. They're going to need time to recover. But we'll be with you every step of the way. You can count on us." Hermione said patting him on the cheek.

"Now you boys go back to what you were doing." Hermione said with a smile.

"I'll be there is a few minutes." Harry said.

"Take your time. Play with your brother. We have all night to play." She said walking out of the room and closing the door.

"You are one lucky man Harry." Neville said watching her go.

"Trust me baby bro, I know. Now let's get on with this so I can get it on with her." Harry said making them both laugh at his turn of phrase.

"I can't wait for Amelia to go back to the UK so I can get some alone time with Susan. We were just starting to figure out what we had you know?" Neville said picking up his gun and dropping the 190 round magazine out of the gun and picking up five 20 round mags off the loading table.

"So you two are not a thing yet?" Harry asked.

"I don't know? We went to Hogsmeade a few times last year and I shared a few meals at school with her during the school year, I spent some time in the puffs common room with her snogging, but we didn't label it. Then we spent last weekend at Hannah's house. It was a Hufflepuff party. We had a bonfire. Everyone got blasted on fire whiskey. We ended up fooling around under a blanket, you know, hand stuff. It was great. For one night, things were great. Andy showed up the next day and told us about everything. Ever since then we haven't been able to get too much time alone together. Maybe when she's not around I can sneak off with Susan and figure out what we are." Neville said blasting away at the target.

"I'll see what I can do. We're in a holding pattern for the next few days. We need to get paperwork from the ICW before anything can happen. We need to get your parents up so we can start rehabbing their bodies and magic. On top of that I have a laundry list of shit that needs to get done now so we can get going next week. I think, however that tomorrow, we can do a date night of sorts. Just us younger group. We'll go out to a nice place for dinner, we'll catch a movie, after that we'll get ice cream or something. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to talk to Susan." Harry said setting up two targets and working on his MP5k shooting.

"You're a lifesaver Harry. I mean I think I love Susan but if she's not into me like that I'd like to know now before we go too far." Neville said.

"I feel you." Harry said nodding.

A half hour latter Harry walked into the master bedroom and found Hermione sitting up in bed wearing a white silk nightgown. She was reading a big book and petting Hedwig who was still a small dog. She looked up when he walked in and smiled at his tired look. She knew both of them were tired from the night before. Harry stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed with her. Hedwig licked his face and trotted off the bed to the bench at the foot of the bed. Hermione set her book on the nightstand and rolled up on top of Harry's chest.

"You look tired." She said kissing him.

"I feel tired. We did a lot today." Harry said smiling up at her.

"Too tired to fool around?" She asked sitting up and playing with the straps of her nightgown.

"I'm never too tired for that. I'd have to be dead to not want that." Harry said pulled her back down and kissing her.

"Good." She said with a smile as Harry pulled her nightgown off over her head.


	12. Chapter 12

The next few days flew by for Harry and the group. Tuesday started off with a light workout in the morning for Harry, Dan, Neville, and Ted. The foursome headed out to the country club after breakfast. After buying two sets of clubs, shoes, balls, and everything else for Neville and Ted they hit the links at ten.

It became painfully obvious to Harry and Dan that both Neville and Ted were not good at the sport. Ted was very out of practice and Neville could hit the shit out of the ball but he couldn't hit it straight nor could he putt to save his life. By the second hole the the two were four and ten over par and they both looked like they were ready to snap a club in half. Harry and Dan shared a look.

"How about we play teams until you guys get your groove?" Dan asked.

"Teams?" Ted asked.

"Sure, you and me versus these two youngsters. I'll tee off, then you take the next shot, we'll alternate every other shot and share a team score. Loser buys lunch." Dan said.

"Deal, your team is first." Harry said waving at the tee box for Dan in a mocking way.

"We are going to wipe the floor with you two." Dan said.

"And next time we play Neville will have gotten a chance to play a few rounds of Mini Golf on the roof. Then we'll play for money." Harry said pulling two cigars out and handing one to Neville.

"Yeah! What he said!" Neville said confidently making them all laugh.

By the time they made it back to the clubhouse at half past one their scores were astronomical but they all had a good time. They had lunch at the country club and Harry picked up the tab.

They hung around the house for a few hours after that. Andy, Emma, Ted, Odd, and Amelia came back from the bank at four where they finished the paperwork to move their accounts to the states. Doc Carter showed up at five to administer another dose of the cure and check on Neville's parents. At this point they were up another fifteen pounds in body weight and their brains were healing nicely, but the damage was more severe than DOc Carter first thought. He added another day, maybe two to the recovery time line for the elder Longbottom's. Neville took it in stride. Ne could see how well they were healing. The group headed off for a 'date night' around six. Luna was reluctant to go at first. She didn't want to act like a fifth wheel but Harry and Hermione just hugged her, and pushed her out the door.

Harry drove them to a nice steak house. They had big slabs of perfectly chard meat and huge baked potatoes. They washed it all down with two bottles of red wine. Harry had one glass but stuck with water and coffee. He was driving after all. When they thought they couldn't possibly eat anything else the waiter brought out the chocolate sulfates to much groaning. By the time Harry paid the bill they were basking in a food coma. Harry lead the group out and drove them to the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd street and 8th ave. Harry pulled over on a side street and let them out. He shrank the car and they walked up the block to the huge movie house.

They got tickets to Inside Out. When they walked into the theater Neville and Susan headed off to find seats together and Harry lead Hermione and Luna to the other side. Harry sat between the two girls and they both used him as a pillow. The movie was amazing, especially for Neville, Susan, and Luna. Neville and Susan had never been to a movie theater and Luna had never seen a Pixar animated movie.

When the movie ended Harry looked up a good spot for ice cream on his phone and found an old fashioned ice cream shop only a few blocks away so they decided to walk. They found the little ice cream shop easy enough. Everyone got a few scoops and they again split up with Neville and Susan taking a booth in the back and Harry sharing a table with Hermione and Luna.

"I just wanted to say thank you for taking me along with you guys. But you don't have to keep ruining your date to watch out for me. You two can get a booth if you want." Luna said ducking her head.

"We're happy right where we are and you didn't ruin anything." Hermione said hugging Luna to her side.

"Yeah, it was good spending time with you little sister. And in a few days we'll get Colin over and we'll do this again but as a triple date." Harry said.

"Don't forget Dora and Oliver." Hermione reminded him.

"We're going to need to take the Beast for that many people." Harry said laughing.

"Or three cars." Hermione said.

Harry drove them all back to the house, and pulled into his spot in the garage. He waved Hermione and Luna out of the car but stopped Neville and Susan with a wave of his hand.

"Take your time, we're going to check the mail and talk to Steve. I figure you have about twenty minutes." Harry said putting the top up on his Camaro. As he walked away he tossed a few privacy charms up in that corner of the garage.

True to his word Harry lead the two girls up to the lobby, where he got the mail from Beth, dropped off a two more portkey targets in the portkey room, and talked to Steve about quidditch. The girls sat in the comfortable green leather chairs in the lobby and chatted with Beth. Harry looked at his watch as the elevator dinged twenty two minutes after they came up. A disheveled Susan and Neville walked into the lobby with blushing smiles. Hermione hit both of them with a few charms to fix their clothes and clean the makeup off Neville's face. Neville handed Harry his car. Harry looked at the hotwheels sized muscle car before looking back at Neville.

"Susan hit it with a dozen cleaning charms." Neville said blushing so red he was almost dizzy.

"Right. Good to know." Harry said putting the car in his bag.

Wednesday was full of errands for Harry and Hermione. Starting with meeting Abby at the bank that morning. She was finally back from Paris and she was pissed. Harry asked about her trip and that was all it took to set her off.

"Those fucking rich French Wizards! If I could kill half of them I would! They are so disorganized. On top of that they are rude, short tempered, sexist, and they treat the people that work for them like dirt. I literally contemplated how bad a French prison would be and if it was worth the trade off for the satisfaction of knowing I ended a few of those assholes!" She said looking dead tired and enraged.

"So is this a good time to talk about starting salary for the job in my new company?" Harry asked.

"You know what? Sure, why not? What are you offering? And don't fuck with me Harry. I will kill you. American magical women's prisons are nice." Abby said taking a deep drink from her coffee cup.

"Well you make what, about $350,000 a year here right?" Harry asked.

"Not even close. Try about $95,000. Are you offering me $350,000 a year? Because if you are, I'll turn in my paperwork right now." Abby asked.

"No I'm not offering $350,000 a year." Harry said laughing as he waved her off. When he saw her slump into her seat he struck. "I'm offering you one million dollars a year, full magical medical, an enchanted company car, and an apartment in the Potter building. I want you to run the company with me." Harry said with a smirk. She looked at him and blinked a few times before her face shifted back to anger.

"I said no games." She said sounding hurt.

"I'm not playing any games. I'm dead serious. Starting pay is one million US dollars a year. You'll get a nice sized raise every year on top of that, if the company makes money. I'm also offering you a signing bonus of a hundred thousand dollars if you join today." Harry said with a smirk. Abby looked too shocked to speak so Harry kept talking. He wanted to lock her down today.

"Obviously don't piss off your bosses here at the bank but the quicker you come work for me the faster we can can start getting shit done. I know you have a few girls that work for you out there in the bullpen. You can bring them all along at twice what they make now. No car, or apartment for them but you will have full control over a team of about ten office workers to handle your paperwork and schedule. You'll be in charge of the day to day operations of the company through the different department heads. I'll take important meetings and handle the big decisions. You handle the rest. You'll work for me and you'll be second in charge in the pecking order. I'm not going to sit here and blow smoke up your ass Abby, this is going to be hard work. Long hours of keeping on top of everything. But I can tell you two things. You'll be treated with respect by everyone, and you'll have my full support and backing. I trust you. In the short time we've know you, you've treated us with respect and you've always had the solution to our problems." Harry said.

"My God you're not kidding." Abby said sitting up in her chair and looking far more awake then she was a few minutes ago.

"I'm one hundred percent telling the truth. There will also be a chance for a huge bonus of another million dollars if you can get the company up and running by the new year. If you can do it by the end of October I'll make it three million. As you can see by the things I asked for over the phone earlier I'm already starting to lay the groundwork. I need you to pick up the ball and run with it. We need an office building. It has to be big enough to house between 350 to 500 agents, and all the staff they need to do their job. It has to have a floor dedicated to magical research, as well as a floor to house prisoners for a short time until they can be handed off to the proper authorities. I also want a floor to house a bunch of healers to take care of the staff and troops, a cafeteria, a shooting range, armory, a parking garage with a full time staff of mechanics, and a gym. We're also going to need to build a military base in the middle of nowhere so we can train the tactical troops. We're also going to need to build or buy a little suburb close to the base we build to house troop families. I figure the goblins would be the best place to start." Harry said.

"I'll go talk to my boss, and start the paperwork to quit. I'm guessing I'll have to draw up my own contract?" Abby asked with a smirk.

"No need, my adopted mum will do that. She's going to be the in-house council. Her husband Ted will handle the accounting. Hermione will be the head of the research department. Dan will be in charge of the tactical division. Right now we'll be working out of the Library in my house. As we get bigger and we find our office building we'll move into that. For now everyone is hanging around my apartment at the moment." Harry said.

"Oh, before I forget. I have the contact for dragon hide, he works out of a warehouse New Jersey. He's your best bet for dragon hide unless you want to head to Mexico yourself?" Abby asked.

"What's the difference in price if I make the trip out myself?" Harry asked.

"Well I talked to Carlos, he wants $150,000 a hide. How many do you need?" Abby asked.

"Your grandfather asked for about thirty hides. That's what, 4.5 million dollars?" Harry asked looking at Hermione to confirm his math which she did with a nod.

"In that case you're better off flying out to Mexico and buy hides right from the hunters. I know my grandfather can tan raw hides right off the animel. I'll set it up for you, we have a bank branch in Mexico City. Do you have a portkey? I can send it out there today and and set up a few meetings with local hunters. It's how dealers do it." Abby said.

"I'll need you to accompany me down there. I can't speak spanish." Harry said.

"You kidding? By tomorrow I'll be working for you full time. I'm going to put in my paperwork right after you go." Abby said looking around her big but mostly empty office.

"I'll have your first check waiting for you when you sign the paperwork tomorrow Morning." Harry said standing up to leave.

"I'll be there tomorrow nine am sharp." Abby said waving them out her door.

From the bank Harry drove to the ICW building. This time the gate guard asked to see his ID and Harry had to suppress a smirk. Someone got their ass handed to them. His suspicions were verified when the guards in the lobby asked for ID and cross checked his name on a computer before they allowed him to enter the building armed. They took a trip up to Marcus's office and the security man had three big file boxes waiting for them.

"What's this?" Harry asked.

"A goodie bag full of fun and toys. What does it look like? Its paperwork. More specifically it's the paperwork for Steel Security and Insurance inc. It's everything you're going to need to get the company off the ground. It's a lot of legal documents. I have no idea what most of them are. We had a pack of lawyers draw up the paperwork yesterday. I figured you would want to have your legal council look that over before you sign it. They tell me it's everything we talked about. Tax breaks, legal documents declaring you a military entity, legal exemptions for firearms and explosives, and things like that. It's all in there. You will be granted the full support of the ICW. You are exempt from any laws in this country and any other ICW country in the world. If you're operating in a non-ICW country like say the UK, you are not subject to their laws either under the ICW agent's code of law. We also set aside a slush fund with 50 million dollars. It's what we can spare at the moment. We wanted to help pay for some of the start up costs. Next year we're hoping to double that to 100 million as a contract fee for providing security to the campus here as well as a few embassies around the world in addition to being our ready force like you offered. That frees up 25 million dollars we pay to the clowns downstairs as well as a host of other private contractors we pay for sub par service. We're cleaning house." Marcus said.

"I'll have my second in command look that all over and we'll get back to you with questions and things like that in the next few days." Harry said.

"Take your time, I'm told this is going to be a bit of a process. I have no idea, you'll be dealing with a few of the bean counters from now on for the business side of all this. I'm an ex-magical spook not an egghead." Marcus said laughing.

"Well from one meat head to another I'll pass it all on." Harry said laughing too.

"Good. The less we have to talk about numbers and tax law the better. On the flip side we have moved three of our agents to the UK and they've been setting up surveillance. We should start getting some basic intel as soon as tomorrow or the next day. It's the best we can do until you get people in deeper over there." Marcus said.

"Amelia Bones is planning on heading back to the UK and taking up her position as Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's most likely a bad idea but she's a grown ass woman and there's not much I can do to stop her. If she's not captured and killed the minute she walks into the ministry then maybe she can feed us intel from inside the ministry. I'm almost sure it's a bad idea but I will be limiting information she has access to from now on because she's a liability. All they have to do is capture her and interrogate her under truth potion. They have our location, our new names, and half of our plans. I'm tempted to mind wipe her before we send her back. I'm hoping she goes down in a firefight before they get a chance to question her." Harry said in a tone both Marcus and Hermione thought was too cold.

"There are ways to protect her from questioning." Marcus said.

"We don't have time for her to learn mind magic. She wants to head back tomorrow or the day after at the latest." Harry said.

"I'm not talking about mind magic. I'm talking about a runic tattoo that blocks the mind and stops truth potion from working. I'm a spy Harry. It's my job to make sure information come in and doesn't go back out." Marcus said.

"How complicated is the tattoo and can we all get one?" Harry asked.

"Not too complicated and yes you can all get one. I was going to suggest it to you as a security precaution." Marcus said taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeve to show off a tattoo of a black tribal dragon on his upper right arm.

"How long does it take to get something like that done?" Harry asked.

"Not long at all. Maybe twenty minutes for the tattoo and ritual. The dragon is not the tattoo, the few lines of black runic script under the dragon is the tattoo. I got the dragon to cover the runic tattoo. Something I suggest you all get. If the runic script is easy to see the ritual can be broken. So the runic tattoo is easy but the dragon took three hours. We use a magical tattoo shop in the east village. The owner is a Mohawk tribal shaman. He does good work, and his shop can handle six people at a time. You want me to set something up for your group?" Marcus asked.

"Yes please. Set it up for later today if you can. That way I can get Amelia off my ass and she's not a flight risk." Harry said.

"Harry." Hermione said hitting him in the arm for his dismissive attitude towards the older woman.

"What? She's been a dismissive stuck up pureblood ever since she got here. I'm not saying I want something to happen to the old battle axe, I'm just stating facts." Harry said rubbing his arm.

"Still, it would kill Susan if something was to happen to her." Hermione said.

"She has a vest, gun, and a portkey, with a tattoo her mind is protected, what more do you want me to do? I'm already planning on day trips to the UK to get people out. I can't worry about her too." Harry said.

"Well the boxes do have one more layer of protection. In that top box is a dozen agent forms along with the corresponding ICW badges. All you have to do is fill out the forms, sign it with a blood quill and add your picture to the ID with the spell that's included in the box. With that badge you are untouchable. They can't arrest you. They can't question you. And if they do try anything it is your legal right to fight back any way you see fit. I had the ICW security council vote to repeal the non magical war time assistant doctrine. We're working with our old set of rules again. The US government has been itching to get that passed for years. They're the ones that got you half the paperwork in those boxes. If the UK ministry have a problem with you they can call me. That is, if they know how to use a phone. If not, fuck um. Do what you have to." Marcus said with a smirk.

"Thank you Marcus, this is going to make everything a lot easier." Harry said opening the top box and seeing twelve smaller flat document boxes inside. He lifted the lid off the top box and saw a black leather ID holder with a blank ID card and a small gold shield, and a bigger gold shield you could clip on your belt. The shield had a globe and ICW over the top and AGENT under it with a crossed sword and wand.

"As soon as you fill out the paperwork, it's official. When you get your company up and running we'll knock up a new shield with SSI on it. We've already put out word to ICW countries that we have a proactive fighting force again." Marcus said seeing Harry's smile.

"Thank you Marcus. Thank you for believing in this." Harry said holding out his hand.

"Thank you for sticking your neck out for us. We'll back you up but you're going to be our sword of justice." Marcus said taking Harry's hand.

"I'm happy to do it. I've been fighting my whole life, at least now I'm fighting for a noble cause." Harry said.

"I'll make the call to the tattoo shop, Doris will get you the information." Marcus said.

Harry shrank the boxes and put them in his bag. He stopped off at the reception desk and got the address. They headed back to the apartment and told everyone the good news. Andy and Ted dove into the boxes of documents. While they were doing that the rest of the group filled out the forms and signed them with the provided blood quill. The document flashed and vanished. A second later the ID card in the black leather badge holder updated with a second flash. The card now had their names and Agent numbers. A spell later and the ID card had their pictures too. Harry tucked his badge holder in his jacket pocket and clipped the gold shield to his belt.

When they were all done they sat down for lunch. During the meal Harry got a call from Marcus telling him Richard could fit his group in now. After they finished eating they all piled into the beast and headed to the east village. Harry lead the Beast in his Ferrari with Hermione. Harry found the small shop tucked into an alley off a side street. It looked like a normal tattoo parlor with six work stations. Most of the men in the shop were of native american decent. They all wore jeans, boots, black band t-shirts, and black leather motorcycle club vests with a red hawk on the back. Harry was approached by an older man that looked like he was in his late 60's but Harry could tell the man was way older than 60.

"I am Rick Horn, welcome to my shop. I understand you are all here to get a mind seal and cover tattoo?" He asked in a laid back chill voice that screamed old cool stoner. Between his kind eyes, grandfatherly smile, and AC/DC band shirt Harry liked the guy already.

"We are. Thank you for accommodating us on such a short notice. If I knew something like this was available I would have set up an appointment." Harry said shaking the old man's hand.

"It is fine, we had a slow day today. The ritual takes about fifteen minutes. Depending on the size and complexity of the cover tattoo you want to get we should be able to get through everyone in the next five hours. I think we'll start with you. The rest of you look around and talk to the guys about cover options. The process is mostly painless and with healing spells you'll be able to walk out of here without having to worry about taking care of anything." Rick said.

Rick lead Harry into a back room with a dental chair and tattoo workstation. The room had sandstone slab walls and floor. On the walls were tribal art murals, and buffalo skulls. The floor was covered in lines and symbols. Harry eyed the room around him and Rick laughed.

"Relax dude. It's part of the ritual. This is a ritual room. It helps channel the magic in the air into the runic magic I use. Now where would you like this tattoo?" Rick asked.

"Upper right arm I guess?" Harry said pointing to his right shoulder.

"It's a classic spot for guys. It's also the least painful spot to work on. Strip off your jacket and shirt and set them on the chair in the corner. I need access to your upper right arm." Rick said sitting at the workstation and preparing a fresh needle into a gold tattoo gun.

Harry stripped to his bare chest and took a seat in the chair. Rick pulled a wand from his vest pocket and muttered a few spells at a small thimble of black ink and it glowed. He hit Harry's upper arm with a hair removal spell and a cleaning charm. He finished preparing and turned to Harry with the tattoo gun in hand.

"You ready for this? I need you to hold very still. I'm about to free hand a string of runes on your arm. If I fuck it up we have to cut that patch of skin off, heal your arm, and try again. I can't use a numbing charm with magical ink. I can strap your arm down if you don't think you can hold still, but I don't like to do that." Rick said.

"No, I can handle it. Go for it." Harry said closing his eyes and shutting off his brain. He heard the buzz of the tattoo gun and he felt the sting of the needle for a few seconds before his brain turned off totally. After a growing up in a house where he got his ass kicked on a regular basis, this was nothing. Harry zoned out so hard Rick hap to tap him on the head to get him back.

"I'm impressed and saddened. You didn't move once. You are able to channel your pain. It speaks of a hard life." Rick said with sad knowing eyes.

"A hard life teaches you many things. One of them is that pain is all in your mind." Harry said in a calm voice as he looked at his arm. He saw a string of black symbols. They looked vaguely English but Harry couldn't read it and the harder he tried the more they got blurry in his mind.

"Pain is all in your mind." Rick said with a nod. "You're done, you can go pick your cover up tattoo. Send in the next person." Rick said touching the rune string with the tip of his wand. The string glowed before it sank into his skin and dulled to a light gray.

"Thank you." Harry said standing up and grabbing his things from the chair. He waved Hermione into the room before he took a seat at one of the work stations. Sitting at the station was a big man with long black hair pulled into a braid. He was covered in ink.

"I'm Harry." Harry said holding out his hand.

"No shit? I'm Harry too. Harrison Horn. I see the old man still got it. This looks really good. Was there something you had in mind or do you want to look at the books?" Harrison asked.

"Can you put this on my arm?" Harry asked holding up his Head of house ring with the wolf head and Steel on it.

"You want the wolf head and Steel or would you like a whole wolf like this?" Harrison asked lifting his shirt to show off a tribal wolf howling at the moon on his chest.

"Nice, but I kind of want the crest for now. I might come back for something like that." Harry said.

"Hey, I get it. It's your house name and animal, that's powerful symbolic magic." Harrison said nodding as he waved his wand over the ring and transferred the image to a sheet of paper.

"Symbolic Magic?" Harry asked.

"There is power in a name. There is power in the effigy of an animal. The symbol you choose to cover runic magic helps you channel power. It might be nothing but a pretty tattoo or it might give you strength when you need it. It depends on how you treat it. This is less Magic and more 'magic'. If you know what I mean?" Harrison said making air quotes.

"I understand. Can you continue the design and add a body? I like the way the goblins made the wolf on my ring." Harry said looking at the wolf head on his ring.

"I can do that easy. It's a simple style. Give me a minute." Harrison said grabbing a pen from a cup holder and tapping his temple with his wand. He pulled a small silver strand out of his head and dropped it into the pen. The pen hovered over the paper and stared to draw. In less than a minute there was a full wolf but it didn't 'feel' right to Harry. Harrison saw the look on Harry's face and smiled.

"You feeling something else?" He asked.

"I am, can I pull a design out of my head?" Harry asked.

"You can. Let me get you a fresh piece of paper. Sit back and pull the image up to the front of your mind." Harrison said.

Harry sat back and dropped into his mind. He concentrated on the image of his ring and found himself on the edge of a thick birch wood forest. It was a moonlight night and there was snow on the ground. Harry looked out over the rolling snow covered hills behind him before turning back to the dark woods. As cold and as scary as this should feel he found the place oddly comforting. Like the feeling of a warm bed on a cold morning. In the darkness he saw glowing lime green eyes watching him. He didn't feel fear, he felt safety. He held out his hand and a big black timber wolf stepped out of the woods and up to him. The wolf stopped a few feet from him and looked at him with calculating eyes as if it was judging him.

"Come boy." Harry said with a smile. But the wolf just barred it razor sharp white teeth and growled at him.

"I Said Come Here!" Harry said in a more forceful and commanding tone. The wolf dropped the act and smiled a wolfish grin as it walked up to him. It had to be about three and a half foot tall at the shoulders four foot tall at the head, and seven foot long from nose to tip of its tail. Harry touched it head and it's eyes glowed the same way Harry's eyes glowed. Harry bowed his head and touched his forehead to the wolf's head and he was back sitting in the Tattoo chair. He touched his wand to his head and pulled a glowing silver strand out of his head. He touched it to the pen and the pen sucked it in. the pen shot across the paper and Harrison smiled.

"Did you see the wolf?" He asked.

"I think I did more then see it. I think I made a connection to it." Harry said watching the pen draw the wolf with green eyes. The drawing almost looked like black fire in the shape of a wolf in profile.

"I'll say. I'm lucky I picked up a supply of magical black ink. This is going to take a while." Harrison said as the pen finished the stylized L in Steel.

"Take your time." Harry said sitting back in the chair as Harrison stuck the paper to Harry's arm and hit it with a spell that transferred the image to his skin.

"Just a heads up, magic ink hurst, a lot. You want a numbing charm?" Harrison asked.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm going back to talk to the wolf." Harry said closing his eyes and dropping into his mind again. He found himself in the same spot and the wolf was there waiting for him. It trotted up to him and Harry bent down to hug the black wolf.

"Do you have a name?" Harry asked looking at the wolf's eyes. He heard the word Shadow in his mind.

"Shadow?" Harry asked and the wolf nodded.

"Okay, Shadow it is. Shadow are you a figment of my imagination or are you something more?" Harry asked. He got the word Guardian in his mind and he smiled.

"You my guardian? Well I'm happy you're here. I always wanted a dog." Harry said with a grin.

Shadow ran into the woods and came back a few seconds later with a stick. He dropped it at Harry's feet and Harry picked it up. He looked at the stick and back to the dog. Shadow nodded to the snow covered field. Harry turned and chucked the stick. Shadow gave a tail wagging bark and took off after the stick. He brought it back and Harry tossed it again.

They played fetch for a while until Shadow lead Harry to a clearing inside the woods where a nice log cabin sat next to a creak. Harry walked into the cabin and saw a fire burning in the river stone fireplace. It was at that point he noticed he was slightly cold. The cabin had a wood table with four chairs, a brown leather couch, heavy wood coffee table, bookcases full of books, and a gun rack in the corner by the door. There was a walled off toilet with a big sink on the wall there was a small pot rack by the fireplace with a few cast iron pots, pans, and cookware. But Harry was only focused on the comfortable brown leather chair with the ottoman and side table with tea set by the fireplace.

He sank into the chair and signed. Shadow sat next to the chair and laid his big head in Harry's lap. Harry looked at all the walls of the cabin. The few spots on the walls not covered by book cases had windows and mounted deer heads. Above the fireplace was a green velvet banner with the Steel crest in silver and black. Harry looked inside the teapot and found hot fresh fragrant tea. It reminded him of the tea they served at the castle. He poured a cup over milk and added a sugar cube. He sat back in his chair and sipped his cuppa as he petted Shadow's head.

He took the time to look at all the bookshelves. Each wall of the cabin was about 25 foot to a side and ten foot tall. Each wall had about twenty feet worth of bookshelves about eight foot high. The book shelves were made of the same dark stained wood like the rest of the cabin but the leather bound books on the shelves were grouped by color. Some shelves had green books, some brown, a few of them had red books. But his attention was drawn to the black books. They occupied two bookcases by the bathroom and they seemed to be grouped away from the rest of the book. He didn't know why but those black books bothered him. He set his cup down and stood up much to Shadow's displeasure.

He walked to the bookshelf and picked a black book at random. The book was titled advanced battle spells and shields. He opened the book and was hit with a blinding pain that shot through his head. He dropped the book as he clutched his head. But as soon as the pain hit it was gone and he blinked a few times. Swimming in his head were battle magic spells. They were mostly dark and did area damage but as soon as he tried to think of one of the spells it faded from his mind. Like a name on the tip of his tongue he knew it, but couldn't say it.

He picked up the book again off the floor and braced himself for pain but when he opened the book nothing happened. He looked at the pages and as he glanced at each page the memories of the spells came back to him. He knew this book. He flipped to page 243 and found the gold shield spell. He now knew how to cast it. He flipped to the end of the book and looked at the back cover. Stamped on the back cover was 'property of T.M. Riddle' like a library stamp. Harry almost dropped the book again. But instead of panicking he put the book back. Looking at the spines of the books closer he could see all the titles. Everything from advanced transfiguration to mind arts, and charms to potions. They were all in there. Including dozens of books on dark rituals, blood magic, and necromancy.

He picked up a book on the mind arts and braced for pain as he opened the cover. He was hit with a wave of pain but nowhere near as bad as the last time. This time it felt like he bumped his head on something hard. The book was about 500 pages long and Harry paged through it looking at each page but not reading it. It was like just glancing at the page downloaded the knowledge into his head. But no, that was wrong. He was already in his head. That meant the knowledge was there as well.

No, looking at the pages added neural pathways to the knowledge that was buried deep in his brain. This was a visual representation of his brain. It manifested when he got the mind seal. It was always here just under the surface. It was created when he served the link to Tom Riddle. When he severed his mind from Tom's he took the dark lords knowledge with him. Tom's skills with the mind arts went to work on Harry's brain but he couldn't access it until now. Wait! Where did all the big words come from?

"What the hell? Did I just get smarter?" Harry asked out loud. Shadow looked at him like he was a fucking moron.

"Right, no, I'm still an idiot, I'm just an idiot with the memories of a smart person. I wish I would have paid attention in school." Harry said. Shadow barked and trotted over to a shelf with light blue and light green books. Shadow pawed at the small group of light blue books.

Harry grabbed one and looked at the cover. 'Second grade math' he opened the book as he squinted but there was no pain at all. He looked at the pages and all of a sudden he knew his times tables. He could never remember his times tables. He smirked and looked at the light blue books. He was going to make grade school his bitch. He skimmed the light green books on the shelf and saw that most of the books were compilations of books he was forced to read as a kid.

He moved on to the next shelf this one had navy blue books. He saw dates on the spines. Some books were small, in fact all the books from 2000 to 2011 where very slim. The rest of the years had three or more volumes per year. He grabbed 2005 and flipped to the last page which was numbered 194. He looked at the page and was hit with the week before his sixth birthday. It was boring. He spent most of it locked in his cupboard under the stairs because they knew his birthday was coming up and they wanted him to suffer.

"I have to remember to go back and kill those fucking people. Or at the very least put them in jail." Harry said putting the book back. He walked over to the next shelf and saw dark red books. They all had different subjects he learned in Hogwarts. He grabbed a year one potions book and flipped through it with a grin as the knowledge came back to him full force.

"But how? I'm not this smart?" Harry muttered. Then as if asking the question brought up the answer he was hit with a string of thoughts.

The human brain stores pretty much everything it takes in. No matter how conscious we are of the information. Looking at a book, sitting in class hearing the dead bat belittle the students, and sitting down with Hermione as she explained the homework to him for five years added up to the contents of the book in his hands. Was the book complete and comprehensive? No. But was it more than he thought he knew? Yes. However if he sat down and paged through a potions book in the real world it would make a copy in his head. Then all he had to do was page through it in his mind and he would know the contents of the book.

"I'm going to make potions my bitch as well. This is going to be fun." Harry said looking around the room with a sinister grin. He was about to go back to the black books when he heard Harrison call his name.

In the blink of an eye he was back in the tattoo chair. He blinked a few times to adjust to the light and he smiled as he looked at the raw tattoo on his arm. Harrison hit his arm with a healing charm and the redness evaporated leaving clean healthy skin and an inky black wolf that looked like it was alive. The green eye glowed and the light shifted off the black fur like black fire. He looked at the wolf and Shadow looked back at him. Harry's smile became a wolfish grin.

"You like it?" Harrison asked.

"I love it. Thank you." Harry said look at his tattoo.

"Good, I'm always happy when then the client is happy." Harrison said writing up a bill.

"What's the damage?" Harry asked.

"It took just under two hours, and a lot of magical ink. I burned through half a bottle of enchanted black ink. Plus the cost of the ritual. You're looking at $2,100. You can pay at the counter upfront." Harrison said handing him the bill.

"Worth every penny. I think I might come back and get something on my other arm. Maybe a dragon or something." Harry said.

"I'm here most days, call ahead and make sure I'm in. You're a dream to work on. I'm almost sure you fell asleep at one point." Harrison said shaking Harry's hand.

"I'll call ahead." Harry said grabbing his things off the chair and walking up to the counter. He paid and saw Hermione sitting with here mum by the door. Both Granger girls were looking at the matching book tattoos they got on their left hips.

"I see you got a matching set." Harry said handing the bill to the guy behind the counter along with the cash.

"We did. We wanted the tattoo in a hard to see place and we wanted the same one. Something small and something that means a lot to both of us." Hermione said showing him the book tattoo. The book was small, only about an inch and a half tall and an inch wide, and easy to hide with a shirt or high waisted pants.

"That's cute. I got Shadow on my shoulder." Harry said showing her the wolf.

"Shadow?" Hermione asked.

"I'll tell you later, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"It's a beautiful wolf." Emma said.

"I love it. It's sexy." Hermione said.

"I bet you love it. You are finally dating a bad boy. He has a wolf tattoo, and he made you get one as well. You're a leather jacket short of being a cliche." Emma said in a disproving motherly tone but the smirk ruined the delivery.

"I also carry a gun. I smoke, and I drive a fast sports car." Harry said.

"My god, I am dating a cliche bad boy." Hermione said in mock horror as Luna walked over looking at the crescent moon tattoo on her wrist.

"That hurt a lot more than I thought it would, but it's worth it." Luna said showing thein the small silver crescent moon.

"A moon for the moon child." Harry said.

"I got it for my mum. Her name was Selene. The goddess of the moon. That's why she named me Luna. If Selene is the goddess of the moon and I am the moon, then she's my goddess watching over me from the heavens." Luna said with a sad smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. Harry pulled her into his side.

"That's beautiful Luna." Emma said taking the small girl into her arms and pulling her to sit next to her and Hermione.

"What do you think?" Dan asked as he walked over to the group to show off his new black and white Union Jack under his SAS tattoo on his upper arm.

"Very cool. Do you miss old England?" Harry asked.

"Not even a little bit, that's why I got the tattoo. So I don't forget. Nice wolf. It sure as hell took long enough." Dan said. "It's magical ink. Look how the light dances off the black fur." Harry said.

"Huh, I see it now. Very cool." Dan said. Neville came over with big black and white grizzly bear on his shoulder.

"Very nice." Harry said.

"Yeah, my Gran used to say if I kept getting bigger I'd be as big as a bear. I got it for her." He said with a sad smile.

"You are as big as a bear son." Dan said patting the bigger boy on the back with a smile.

They all took seats and started putting on their shirts. They sat there for another two hours as the rest of the group finished up. Susan got a small skull and crossbones on her hip. It was the old bones house crest from the days when the Bones family were privateers. Dora got a small chameleon on her lower back that shifted colors from green to blue to purple. Ted got the Tottenham Hotspurs' roster on his shoulder. Andy got a little black saggy dog on her shoulder blade for Sirius. Odd Lovegood got a crescent moon in a heart on his shoulder for his wife. Amelia was the last one to finish. She got a red Auror shield and banner that read Steven Bones 1978 - 2001 for her brother, Susan's father, who was killed in the line of duty as an auror just six months before the end of the war. Everyone paid for their own tattoos.

They headed out to a sushi place after that where everyone but Harry and Dan got hammered on sake. There were a lot of though memories brought up in that tattoo parlor for half the group and they tried to drown the raw feelings with drink. It wasn't a conscious decision on their part, it was like the more emotional pain they felt the more they drank. It reminding him that they were refugees of a war torn country. As nice as things might be they were all carrying baggage of their old lives.

Harry also noticed a change in some of them. Odd and Luna sat closer to each other at dinner. As if the two tattoos would bring Selene back if they stayed close enough. Neville had a deep contemplating look in his eyes like he did two nights ago. He was thinking about his legacy again. Harry was sure his friend would be heading back to the tattoo shop for another tattoo at some point that said Longbottom. He knew because he was thinking about getting one that said Potter. Susan felt it too. She sat close to Neville and held his hand under the table. Andy had a sad smile on her face every time she looked at Harry. He knew she was thinking about the cousin that didn't make it off the island.

But the biggest change had to be Amelia. Before they got the tattoos he would have called her a power hungry pureblood fool. Now he had to reevaluate his thoughts on the older grizzled warrior. She kept touching her shoulder. She looked emotionally tired and contemplative. She was polite, quite, and she ignored Susan and Neville's hand holding. In fact when she looked at their joined hands she had a sad smile on her face. As if recalling happier times. The kicker came when Harry brought up heading back to the UK.

"Now that you are protected from interrogation I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to get back home?" Harry asked.

"Maybe." She said shocking everyone at the table. When she saw their shocked looks she shrugged.

"I'm not going back because I want to secure my old job. I want to go back because I'm a department head and I've been gone for days. I vanished the night the Death Eaters attacked the alley and the head of the wizengamot got shot. I've been missing all this time and if I don't show my face soon the rumors will have me on the wanted list for everything. I have to get out in front of it if I ever want to live in the UK ever again. You all saw how fast the public turned on Harry over the years. What do you think the paper is printing about me? I have to go back and tell the truth. Get it out there. We found out the Headmaster is as crooked as the day is long and when we tried to help the kids escape the old man sicked his pet Death Eater on us to get us off goblin property. If the people turn on me then so be it. I'll get out of there and hide out here until we can return. If they don't turn on me, maybe I can sow the seeds of rebellion in the hearts and minds of some of the smarter people. Hopefully we can turn people to our side. I know it's a fool's errand. But I have to try. I've fought so hard to protect the innocent from the last war. I can't just walk away now when the next war is starting up. I have to believe there are good people back home." She said in a thoughtful but sad voice.

"Okay. But you're not going alone and you're not going tomorrow, let's see if we can get some more people out first, then we'll back you up. We'll go to the paper first, you and me both. Once the story is out there and people are open to hearing it then we'll see about you going back. We need to get confirmation from your trusted aurors that they have your back." Harry said.

"It's good thinking but we have to move on this. If we wait too long it gives the other side a chance to get their side of the story out. The person that talks first controls the story." Amelia said.

They headed back to the apartment after that and everyone headed off to bed for an early start. Harry headed to the shooting range for his nightly training. When he was done he locked up the house and walked into his bedroom where he found Hermione passed out on the bed snoring hard.

"You're not the cutest drunk love." Harry muttered as he striped for bed.

He slipped into bed next to his girl and she rolled over and clung to his side as if by muscle memory. Hedwig the dog trotted over and licked his face before going to her spot at the foot of the bed. Harry closed his eyes and he found himself in the cabin with Shadow again. He was dressed in comfortable jeans, a black AC/DC t-shirt, a open button up red flannel shirt, and the soft brown boots he got from Geno.

"Hey boy." Harry said walking over to the black book case.

He skimmed over the titles of the books and pulled out advanced mind magics, advanced battle magic, and the six tome set of transfiguration. He carried the books to the easy chair. He sat down and looked for a place to set his books. A second end table that matched the tea table appeared next to his chair on the other side. Harry set down the stack and took the mind magics book off the pile clinched his teeth and opened the book. He felt the rush of pain but again it was not as bad as the last time. He flipped through the 434 page book and by the time he got to the end he knew Legilimency, occlumency, and quite a lot about mental projection and memory manipulation.

With his new found knowledge he understood how the old headmeaster fucked with his mind. He also confirmed that there was no fix for it. The memory files were just not there. It's as if his mind stopped making memories when the headmaster had him under the spell. That thought made him shiver. Shadow licked his face and hugged him with his big paws. Harry rubbed the big wolf's head with a sad smile. He picked up the next book and opened it with confidence. He felt no twinge of pain. He was a master of the mind arts now. He controlled his mental pathways. Reading the books wouldn't hurt anymore. His smirk got bigger.

Two hours later he knew everything there was to know about transfiguration. He was sure he knew more than even Mcgonagall. He knew not only how to do the anamauge transformation, but he knew the advanced form called polymorph. The spell allows you to chose your form and assume it with a thought. He was going to have to bring Hermione into his mind and show her the books so she could put these skills to better use then he could. He looked at the bookcases and thought about going to get more books but Shadow weighed and grabbed a tennis ball from a basket by the door.

"Okay boy, we'll play for a bit, but then I have to get some rest. This is not really rest." Harry said grabbing the soft brown leather jacket from off the hook by the door and leading Shadow outside into the cold dark snowy woods.

They walked out of the wood to the rolling field covered in snow and Harry chucked the ball. Shadow shot after it with his tail wagging like crazy. Harry pulled a small cigar out of thin air and lit it with a snap of his fingers. He played with Shadow for an hour before they headed back to the cabin.

Harry knocked the show off his boots and hung up his jacket as Shadow shook the snow off his fur. Harry saw the snow on the floor and thought about a mud room, the cabin blurred and he was standing in a small stone mudroom looking at the cabin beyond the doorway. They walked into the big main room and again Harry thought about a place to sleep. The cabin blurred and a bedroom with a big soft bed appeared off the main room. Harry walked into the bedroom and his clothes turned into a set of soft cotton PJs. He climbed into bed and Shadow hopped up onto the foot of the bed. He was out before he knew it. In the real world Harry smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry woke up in the master bedroom in the apartment with Hermione sleeping next to him, which was confusing at first. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his mind. But soon his brain caught up. It was Thursday. He shut off the alarm and rolled out of bed. Hermione groaned and rolled over burying her face in her pillow as she muttered about loud noises. Harry hit her with a healing spell designed to cure headaches and she sighed as she relaxed and fell back asleep. Harry kissed her head before he got his workout gear on.

That morning the guys all did a heavy workout to cure their hangovers and hit the showers. Harry and Hermione dressed for the day in what Harry was calling the SSI standard uniform of a black three piece bulletproof suit, over a dragon hide vest. Harry went with a white shirt, black silk tie, and black oxfords. Hermione went with a gray silk blouse left open at the top, a set of comfortable black pumps with a small heel, and light makeup. They found everyone at the dining room table in varying states of hungover.

Over breakfast they talked about what they were doing today. It seemed like mostly everyone was staying in today to nurse their headaches and work on the SSI documents. The exception was Dora and Dan. They were heading to the UK to do a bit of advanced scouting to get a feel from the temperature of the island. If things were going good they were going to see how many people they could get off the island without drawing attention to themselves. They were dressed almost exactly like Harry and Hermione and that made Harry smile. With the suits and the gold shields on their belts They looked like Feds, if they got stopped no one would question them.

After breakfast most of the adults headed off to the library to look over the paperwork. Odd worked with Amelia in the shooting range. She was finally embracing the muggle gun and taking her security serous. Luna, Neville, and Susan were going to spend the morning in the movie room trying their hand at video games. Abby showed up at nine am on the dot. She was dressed in a white knee length skirt suit made of a light gauzy material, over a white silk blouse, she was accompanied by a tall curvy redhead in a green sundress with a plunge neckline that showed off a lot of cleavage and very high heels. When Harry first saw her at the door he had to blink a time or two. Abby saw his face and she smirked.

"Harry, this is my second in command Melissa Barns. She's the best assistant you can ever ask for." Abby said.

"Nice to meet you, welcome to the team." Harry said holding out his hand. She took it and shook it with a sexy smile.

"You're right Abby, he's cute." Melissa said with a Chicago accent.

"He's taken, and so are you." Abby said slapping the redhead on the ass as she walked into the apartment making Melissa yelp.

"I like it when you spank me." Melissa said winking at Harry as she walked by which made his pants very uncomfortable at the thoughts she just put in his head.

"The adults are in the library going over a big box of documents from the ICW." Harry directed them.

"Good morning Abby. We have your contract right here." Emma said from her spot at the big table next to Andy and Ted when they walked into the library.

"And I have your first two checks." Harry said pulling two checks out of his bank book. One check for $100,000 marked 'signing bonus' and a second check for $83,350 marked 'June payroll'.

"Great, as soon as we go over this paperwork we need to head down to Mexico City. I set up a meeting with the biggest dealer in dragon parts at nine. That's less than an hour from now. And we have to drive to his place from the bank." Abby said looking over the contract.

Ten minutes later Harry, Abby, and Hermione were flying through the air. They landed in a small room that looked like the portkey landing area in the Potter building. The floor was covered in small brass mailboxes. Harry put the card in his card holder and followed Abby out of the busy bank and out into the early morning heat. Harry pulled on his sunglasses, he was glade the suit was climate controlled. It felt like it was a 100 degrees but he was a comfortable 75 degrees. Abby lead them to the parking lot. Harry expanded his Camaro and they got in. Harry drove and Abby fed him directions.

They made it to a small warehouse off the beaten path a half hour later. Harry pulled up to the front of the building and shrank his car. They walked in and Abby talked to the receptionist. Soon they were seated in a small but well air conditioned office across from and older man in a white cotton suit with a short sleeved white shirt with red floral pattern. The man had a perfectly manicured white goatee and he was puffing on a big cigar. He was a panama hat and sunglasses away from being a Bond villain caricature.

He asked something looking at Harry. Harry just smirked and let Abby do the talking. Hermione knew a small bit of conversational spanish but the conversation was way above her head. Harry was able to pick up numbers passing back and forth but not much else. But in the end it didn't matter. Abby was in her element. This was the reason Harry wanted her to work for him. She owned the room. It was like watching a parent yell at your teacher in a parent teacher conference. The balance of power shifted quick.

Mr. Rocha started the meeting off looking confident, cocky almost. He got more cocky when he saw Abby was going to do the talking. Over the next fifteen minutes his cocky smirk turned into a grin, which shifted to a neutral stare and ended with him looking slightly afraid of Abby. Harry didn't know what was said but he was sure it was along the lines of sell to us or we'll come back, raid your warehouse with an ICW inspection team, and take what we want when we're done fucking your livelihood into the ground. Abby turned back to Harry when she finished talking.

"He has 21 raw hides on hand now, and he has 11 adult dragons in cold storage waiting to be skinned and butchered. He's willing to sell you the raw hides for $60,000 a piece and the whole dragons for $50,000 apiece. That's 32 hides for $1,810,000 cash." Abby said.

"That's great, but what are we going to do with 11 dragon carcass?" Harry asked.

"Ever had dragon steak? If not, you're in luck." Abby said with a smirk.

"That's a lot of fucking steak Abby." Harry said.

"Relax, I'm fucking with you. I know a butcher that can skin and butcher the dragons for $3,500 a dragon. It's hard work and it takes a whole team of guys to do it. Dragon meat goes bad fast. That means refrigerated storage. For $55,000 you can turn around and sell the meat, teeth, heart, claws, and eyes for about half the cost of the dragon hide you're about to buy. Magical meat is hard to come by in the US, it's regulated, however if you smuggle it into the country?" Abby said leaving the idea hanging in the air.

"Abby, just how risky is this? Transporting dragon meat into the US? We talking slap on the wrist or jail time?" Harry asked.

"Depends on what you get caught doing. But then again it's not something the cops or the Aurors are looking for. If you keep it quiet and let me handle it no one will know anything. It's a small risk. Plus, Dragon is really tasty if it's kept fresh." Abby said with a smirk. Harry had visions of Abby as a international conference of bad guy feasting on a table full of magical creatures. Oddly enough she looked like she fit in well.

"Okay, I'm trusting you on this. Worse case we call Walter and tell him we needed the hide for vests." Harry said pulling out his case. He counted out a 181 bricks of cash from the case almost emptying it out onto the desk.

They were lead to the warehouse floor where the workers started loading the big burnt orange raw hides from a big refrigerated shipping container into a huge wooden crate. The hides were about 45 foot long and 25 foot wide with a 6 foot wide 8 foot long neck, four 3 foot wide 6 foot long legs, and a 3 foot wide 10 foot long tail still attached to the hides. It took three men to pull each hide out and lay it out on the concrete floor. They fold it up like a huge crape, and load it into the crates. Seven hides to a crate the size of a wood shed. When that was done they shrank the crates down to the size of a trunk. Next, four wizards floated big wooden crates the size of a refrigerator on it's side out of a huge refrigerator. Harry looked at the huge crates and looked at Abby.

"Can we shrink these down more?" Harry asked and Abby talked to the owner.

"Those are shrunken down Harry. He says the cartes are 60 foot long, 30 foot tall, and 30 wide when they're unshrunk." Abby said.

"We're going to need a truck. Preferably one with refrigeration." Harry said.

"The butcher I know works with dragon he's in Brooklyn. He has a truck." Abby said.

"Where in brooklyn?" Harry asked.

"South Brooklyn, close to the Verrazano bridge. I have to look it up." Abby said.

"Right, I have a portkey in Brooklyn by Miguel's shop in Red Hook. You two take this portkey and drive to the butcher. Take this stack of portkeys. When you get there and set everything up with him, call me and I'll start sending over crates." Harry said handing Hermione his little black Ferrari and a stack of portkey cards.

"Good thinking. We'll call you in fifteen minutes." Abby said taking a hold of the Portkey Hermione was holding out for her. The two women vanished and Harry spent ten minutes looking over the dead dragons in the warehouse. Harry got a call twenty minutes later and soon he was slapping portkey cards to crates and tapping them with his wand. When they all vanished and he got confirmation from Hermione over the phone he shook the man's hand and he took the last portkey. He landed in a big industrial kitchen where men were loading the crates in to a huge walk in freezer.

"Harry this is Carl Freemen. He runs a semi-legal meat company that deals in magical and exotic animals." Abby said introducing him to a older heavy set black man dressed in blood soaked butcher whites. He had a ring of white hair around his head and a white mustache. He had a shifty smile but he looked like a stand up guy.

"It's nice to meet you." Harry said as he shook Carl's hand.

"Likewise. I'll have my boys start in on your order. I can tell you now it's going to be hard to move that volume of meat all at once. We can skin and clean them for you. Cut off all the easy to sell bits but you're better off butchering them one at a time and selling them off slowly over the next six months." Carl said.

"Do that. The less attention we draw to this the better. We need the hides now but the rest is icing on the cake." Harry said.

"Good. It's going to run you $4,500 a dragon for this order. I'll take $20,000 up front and we'll deal with the rest when the job is done." Carl said.

"Sounds good to me. You take black card?" Harry asked pulling out his Gringotts card.

"Cash only." Carl said.

"Then you're in luck. I only have about $20,000 on me at the moment." Harry said pulling out the almost empty case and grabbing two bundles out.

Soon they portkeyed to the Potter and Harry tossed the tree creates into his Camaro trunk. They took a trip to Geno's shop. The old tailor was so happy Abby was working for Harry he gave him $50 off the price of each vest bring the cost down to $2,450 a vest. 2,000 vest came out to $4,900,000. Harry cut him a check for the full amount.

"I'll get to work right now. I called in my nephew Marco, he's flying in from Italy tomorrow. He made the shoes you're wearing. He specializes in leather work. For now I'll start tanning and dying the hides. Expect the first batch of fifty vests in a few days. Once we have everything in place it's a two man assembly line process. We'll be able to pump out about 50 to 75 vests a day, 250 to 375 vests a week." Geno said looking excited at the prospect of working on a big order.

"Well don't push yourself too hard. We have some time yet and there were a few other projects I'd like to talk to you about. We're going to need bullet proof suits for the agents and I was thinking about black cargo pants and shirts for the tactical guys. You might look into hiring some more staff." Harry said.

"I'll start looking. Abby you can help check them out right?" He asked.

"I can, you get me the names and I'll check them out." Abby said hugging her grandfather.

From there they portkeyed back to the Potter building. They had lunch as a group before they all went back to what they were doing. Abby joined the adults in the library. Hermione was about to follow them when Harry stopped her.

"Come with me to the study? I want to show you something." Harry said.

"Okay?" Hermione said following him into the study. Harry pulled the other desk chair up to his desk and had Hermione sit in the chair. He took a seat behind his desk and rolled his neck.

"What did you want to show me?" She asked.

"You trust me right?" Harry asked.

"Yes. What's going on?" She asked.

"I'll explain everything but for now just go with me on this. Lock eyes with me." Harry said pulling his wand out.

"Harry?" She asked looking at him.

"Legilimens." Harry said but instead of going into Hermione's mind he brought her into his mind. He blinked and saw Hermione standing next to him in the snow by the dark forest.

"Harry where are we?" Hermione asked as she heard a loud wolf howl.

"We're in my mind. Come Boy!" Harry called out and Shadow came trotting out of the woods with his glowing green eyes on Hermione.

"It's your tattoo?" She asked.

"Yes and no. The Tattoo is a representation of the wolf which is my mind guardian. He protects me from intruders. I'm sure you have something like him in your head. I wanted to show you this because it's important. Shadow this is Hermione. She's my mate. You will let her be and treat her like me." Harry said bending over to pet the big wolf. Hermione hesitantly reached out and she felt something connect to her magic. Shadow licked her face and she smiled.

"He's cute." She said scratching Shadow behind his ear.

"He's a huge killer wolf, but he's also a big puppy. Right boy?" Harry said hugging the big wolf.

"This is your mind? It's a bit cold and dark. Not to mention a bit scary." She said looking around at the moonlight winter wonderland.

"That's the point love. It's not supposed to be easy to navigate. Come on." Harry said leading her into the woods. It took a minute to find the cabin but the more he walked to and from the cabin the easier it was to navigate the dark birch wood forest. He opened the door for her and she walked in.

"It's cozy." She said looking around the room full of bookshelves.

"It's small, but I like it. I need to you take a seat in the chair." Harry said walking over to the bookshelf with the black books he found the two books on the mind arts and brought them over. He handed her the first book but kept his hand on the cover to keep it closed.

"That's not just a book. It's memories, and they're not mine. They belong to Tom Riddle. What you hold in your hands is his basic knowledge of the mind arts. If you open that book you will feel intense pain. You might even black out, but you will gain his memories of the subject. The same with this book. It's his knowledge of advanced mind arts. Once you know what's in those two books we can go to your mind and see what your brain looks like. But more importantly, you'll be able to absorb the rest of those books. As far as I can tell they represent the bulk of his knowledge. In my head that knowledge is useless. In your head it might mean the difference between winning and losing the war. But it's up to you. You can look at none of it. Some of it, or all of it. Every night before bed we can come here and you can study." Harry said lifting his hand off the book.

Hermione looked at the book in her lap and looked back to Harry. She turned the book over in her hands a few times as she studied the cover. Finally she took a deep breath and opened the book. As soon as her eyes landed on the first page she let go of the book and clutched her head as she screamed. Harry took a knee in front of the chair and hugged her head to his shoulder.

"That felt like someone took an ice pick to my brain." She mumbled rubbing her head.

"The first one hurts the most. After you look at these two books the pain stops altogether." Harry said.

"I know occlumency and legilimency but it's like the information is missing." She said looking frustrated.

"You have to flip through each page in the book. Once you do it will create a copy of that book in your head. Or rather it will fill the pages in the copy of the book you just made in your head. That's what the pain is. It's an information dump. Going over the pages fills in the details and make information pathways in your head. Would you like a cupa?" Harry asked pouring two cups of tea over milk, one with sugar and one without. He handed her one of the cups and a second chair appeared next to his chair and a third end table.

"So all I have to do is page through this book?" She asked taking a sip of her drink and sighing. "Oh that's good." She said as Harry took a seat in the new chair.

"It's the tea from the castle but I added a hint of nutmeg, and dried orange zest. It's my mind, that means this world work off my knowledge of cooking." Harry said holding out his hand and a plate of warm soft fudge brownies materialized in his hand. "One of my famous fudge brownies? My aunt won a bake off with these." Harry said with a smile.

Hermione laughed and took one. She took a bite and hummed as the warm rich gooey fudge hit her tongue. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment with a sigh. Harry grinned. Set the plate on the side table and made a stack of napkins with a snap of his fingers. He summoned the six books off the shelf that represented his grad school maths and tucked in.

"Harry, this place is scary, I can see myself not wanting to leave here." Hermione said between bites.

"Well we have time. As far as I can tell time runs differently in here. My tattoo took just under two hours. I spent about eight hours in here. It's four to one I think." Harry said looking over his math books.

The truth was he wanted Hermione to have Tom's knowledge to apply it to SSI R&D but he also wanted her knowledge. She went to an advanced grade school and every summer she took correspondence courses to keep up with her muggle schooling. He wanted to know advanced math, science, proper grammar and etiquette. As fun as advanced magical enchantments might sound to Hermione he was more interested in her advanced sciences and the three and a half languages she spoke. Shadow sat at his feet and put his head in Harry's lap. Harry made a big serving bowl full of pot roast on the floor in front of Shadow and the big wolf barked out a thanks and attacked the bowl wagging his tail.

For the next hour Harry went over his math books and Hermione plowed through the two mind arts books, and a few books on magical travel, advanced enchantments, runes, and arithmancy. She slammed a book shut with a triumphant smirk.

"I have our Portkey situation figured out!" She said excitedly.

"Nice. I knew this was a good idea." Harry said looking at his watch which he figured out told the time outside of his mind. So far they had been under for about an hour and a half in here. Which means they've been sitting in the study sitting across from each other for about 22 minutes.

"Yeah. I want to go test it out." She said standing up and putting the book back.

"Let's take a look at your mind first and introduce me to your guardian before we come out of the trance." Harry said.

"Okay, how do we get to my mind?" Hermione asked.

"I have to make a door." Harry said and a door formed on the wall next to the bedroom. Harry opened the dark wood door and they saw a connecting white door.

"I have to open this one." She said walking past him and opening the door into a huge well lit library entryway with white walls covered in famous artwork, black and white marble floors, and stain glass windows.

Looking past the entrance way they saw bookshelves full of tomes. Harry looked up and saw the walls continued up to a domed roof painted like the Sistine chapel with a big skylight in the center that flooded the room in bright light. As soon as Harry followed Hermione into her mind a big female golden sphinx in a gold Roman breast plate and a gold Egyption headdress came running up from out of the rows of bookshelves headed for Harry.

"Halt!" The sphinx called out in a deep commanding tone with her right front paw up and ther long claws out. She turned ever so slightly to Hermione, as soon as she saw her she bowed her head but kept her eyes on Harry.

"Mistress, I didn't recognize you at first. Is this intruder with you?" she asked nodding at Harry.

"Yes. He is my mate." Hermione said using Harry's words.

"In that case I am sorry for charging you like that. I am Cleopatra, I am at your service mistress." The sphinx said with a deep bow and Harry could feel Hermione's magic accept him.

"It is nice to meet you Cleopatra. So this is my mind?" Hermione said looking around at the rows of bookshelves that seemed to go on forever.

"No mistress, this is your defenses. Your mind is over here." Cleopatra said leading them to a mosaic of an apple tree with an inscription bannor over the top in latin.

"Knowledge is power?" Hermione said reading the banner. The section of wall pushed in a foot and slid out of the way. Harry looked back and saw Shadow stuck on the other side of the double doors.

"Come boy?" Harry said but Shadow weighed sadly.

"Come boy, it's okay. You can come over." Hermione said looking at the big dog. But Shadow shook his head sadly.

"He's stuck, he can't leave your mind. He's your guardian, it's his job to guard your mind." Cleopatra said sadly as she looked at Shadow's big sad puppy eyes.

"I'll fix that." Harry said jogging back to his mind. He walked out the front door of his cabin and held up his arms. A copy of the Hungarian Horntail materialized in the clearing by the cabin. But this dragon was male and he was bigger and meaner. The dragon looked around confused.

"Hello, I am Harry, you are my new mind guardian. You take care of my mind out here and Shadow can move freely." Harry said and the big dragon bowed his head.

"As you command master. I will set up my nest in the mountains over there." The dragon said in a deep reverberating voice.

"You got a name?" Harry asked.

"Drake." The dragon said before taking off. Harry shared a look with Shadow as they walked back into the cabin.

"Nice guy." Harry muttered and he heard a roar in the distance. "Now I know what the manifestation of my anger looks like." Harry muttered as he crossed into Hermione's mind. Shadow took a hesitant step and then another. When he was half inside Hermione's mind he ran up to Harry with his tail wagging.

Harry followed Hermione and Cleopatra into the hole in the wall and they ended up in a big two story tall manor house library. The walls were made of light red wood paneling with built in bookcases that matched the darker red wood floor, and offset the white plaster ceiling with molded scroll work. One wall was just a big grid work of windows that let in the bright sunshine of the manicured french guardian beyond the glass. There was a wood and wrought iron winding staircase to the second floor loft and more bookshelves. Hanged from the ceiling was a gas lamp chandelier that matched the gas lamp wall sconces. There was a nice fireplace and a nice bathroom. The floor was covered in a big red and gold area rug that matched the reddish brown leather couch and chairs and red wood tables. There was a big writing desk in the corner with a big leather chair. Harry looked out the big wall of windows.

"I see you went with summer and french gardens." Harry said.

"I didn't do anything. This was all in my head." She said running her finger along the spines of the books on the shelves.

"This is your heart's desire mistress. This is what you find comforting. You are sophisticated, refined, mature. You are the very definition of high class, Mistress." Cleopatra said.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence Cleo, I'll keep that in mind. That being said, I do love every bit of this." Hermione said with a soft smile.

"I like it too. Hey boy we can play fetch and you don't have to do it in the cold." Harry said.

"Harry!?" They both turned and looked up. As they heard Neville's voice coming out of the either.

"Shit we have to get up. We'll be back later." Harry said.

"I eagerly await your return." Cleo said and Shadow barked out a goodbye and ran out of the room and into Harry's mind as the world faded and they both blinked they were sitting in the study and Neville was standing next to them.

"Sorry Neville we were working on our mind arts and got lost. What's up?" Harry asked as they got up and followed Neville out of the study.

"Dan and Dora ran into a bit of a problem and they wanted your input." Neville said leading them to the library at a jog. When they got there they saw everyone crowded around the table looking at a phone.

"What's up guys?" Harry asked.

"Harry?" Dan asked over the speaker phone.

"Yeah. What's going on?" Harry asked.

"We got the Creevey's out. We packed up their house and we took them to the bank to get wards put up around their house. We left them there and headed to Dean Thomas's house. We knocked on the door and we ran right into the Twins. We're sitting across from them right now. They surrendered their wands and we have them at gunpoint." Dan said in a voice that was way too calm for what he was saying. Harry had to admire the man's confidence.

"Right, what do they want?" Harry asked.

"They say they want answers…" Dan said but he was cut off by one of the twins.

"Harry what the fuck is going on? You went missing. We looked all over for you, then a week later we get called to an emergency meeting where we learn that slime ball Snape and a bunch of death eater spawn were killed in an attempt to get to Neville in the bank. On top of that Dumbledore is almost killed and no one can tell us how that happened. There is fishy shit going with the Order. Half the people know thing and the other half are in the dark. Something's not right." Twin one said in a shockingly coherent sentence without a hint of fun.

"That was surprisingly coherent. You boys have grown up a bit over the last year." Harry said.

"Harry, why are you getting all your friends out of the UK but not little Ronnykins or Gin Gin?" Twin two asked ignoring Harry's unintentionally verbal jab.

"And why is our mother not shocked by this fact. Again, it's like we're being treated like mushrooms." The first twin said.

"Yeah! We're kept in the dark and feed bullshit! We're tired of it!" Twin two said.

"Dan, how secure do you feel staying there for now?" Harry asked.

"We're fine for now. I'm inclined to believe them. They look really freaked out." Dan said in a colm voice that had to be freaking the twins out more.

"Right, tell them what the old man did to me and watch their faces. When you're done ask them to swear an oath that they didn't know. Dora take the phone off speaker.

"It's off Harry." Dora said in a less calm voice.

"Do you want back up? Were can get a group together and be there in less than a minute." Harry said pulling his gun and checking it.

"No, I think we're okay. Like Dan said I believe them, I don't think they know and I think they're going to be pised when they find out." Dora said.

"Okay, get Dean and his mum packed and ready to roll out. There's a Dragon's game tonight. We'll send you a portkey to the Stadium parking lot. Get the group all together and bring them over with that. If the twins check out ask them if they'll be missed for the rest of the night. If they're free then bring them too. The game will be a good place to talk." Harry said looking at his watch, it was half past three in New York, that made it half past eight in the UK.

"We'll do that. I kind of wanted to get Hannah and her mum out today. Oliver is going to meet us at the bank." Dora said.

"Have the twins take the Thomas's to the bank and you two finish your trip. You have three hours until the game starts and the Abbot house is under wards already. Just get there and pack them up. Send a portkey target with the twins and pop over to the bank that way." Harry said.

"Good thinking." Dora said.

"Aside from the twins how's it going?" Harry asked.

"We talked to the goblins. They say no one has seen the old man since he's been shot. No one has any idea what's going on. The Dark lord still hasn't shown his face. The paper is printing romance gossip and things like that. No one knows anything. The sheep are happy eating grass." Dora said with a hint of disdain.

"Good. let them eat grass for a few more days." Harry said.

"Getting the twins on our side would be a big deal, they're smarter than they look." Dora said.

"I know, I always liked those two. I just wrote the family off. Maybe I was wrong. How's it going?" Harry asked.

"Well they both look like they got punched in the gut." Dora said.

"Good. Watch yourselves. If the heat catches up to you, use the portkey to France and get out." Harry said.

"I'll call later." Dora said hanging up.

"Okay, everyone go back to what you were doing. We have a Dragon's game later and it looks like it's going to be an interesting night." Harry said.

"I'll work on the paired portkeys. Can you open your vault, I saw some gold bars. I'm going to need some of that. The enchantment requires gold. I'm also going to need some steel." Hermione said.

"Okay." Harry said. Ten minutes later Hermione was working at her desk in the library with a silencing charm up and everyone was giving her a wide berth. Harry's phone rang, it was Dora.

"We got two more allies. They are going to drop Dean and his mum off at the bank and get Angelina, Alicia, and Katie and bring them over. That box is going to be packed." Dora said.

"We'll figure it out. Good work." Harry said.

"Yeah we're off to the Abbot's now. Dan hates apparition by the way, it's kind of funny." Dora said with a smirk.

"Dan's right, appereation sucks." Harry said making her laugh.

"See you in a couple hours little bro." She said hanging up.

By the time six o'clock rolled around Hermione had a hundred sets of portkeys that looked exactly like the portkey cards they bought. Harry took a half dozen off the top of the pile and lead most of the group out of the apartment. The only one's not going were Amelia who wanted to get back on UK time, and Odd who found the TV room and the box of nature Blu Rays Harry bought. They all portkeyed to New Jersey, and Harry made a box out of a stick he found on the side of the road, he put the six portkey cards in the little box, set the portkey on the box and tapped it with his wand to send it to Dora. He drove the Beast to the stadium. He shrank the big truck and dropped the six portkey target cards on the ground in the parking spot and the group from the UK popped over. The Twins rushed up to Harry and hugged him.

"We didn't know." One said.

"We swear." The other added.

"I can't believe our Mum sold you out like that. And she forced our sister to…" Twin one couldn't say it. They both looked pale and shaken. Angelina and Alicia hugged the twins.

"They told us. We don't know what to say." Angelina said.

"Say nothing. It's fine. We're going to see a Dragon's game. No time for sadness now. When the Dragon's lose in three hours then we can be sad. Let's go." Harry said patting them on the back as he lead the group to the VIP entrance.

"Hey Harry, it's good to see you again." Oliver Wood said from Dora's side. The two were holding hands and it didn't look like they were going to let go any time soon.

"Hey Olly! Plan on staying for a while?" Harry asked with a grin looking at his bag.

"I am, so this is America? I like it." He said looking around the huge sports arena as Harry lead them up to the box which for the first time, was packed to the gills.

With both the new group and most of the old group there were like 30 people in the box. Becky came in, took one look at all the people, opened a side panel by the door and turned a dial. The room grew twice as big and the rows of seats at the front of the box extended to add a dozen more seats. The bar got bigger, and Becky grabbed six more bar stools out of a cabinet along with a second couch and table. Harry walked up to her and hugged her.

"You're a lifesaver. A dozen people got dumped in our lap right before the game. As you can see we're going to need double what we got last time drinks and all and just bring two dozen jerseys. No balls this time." Harry said.

"Coming right up." Becky said seeing how stressed Harry was at that moment. She walked out and came back five minutes later with an arm full of jerseys. Harry handed half the stack to Hermione and they started handing them out and shrinking them to fit each person.

"Okay, I need everyone's attention. The Rules of the Box are as follows. One, you wear your dragon's jersey! Two, you root for the Dragons no matter how bad the team is doing."

"SO Hufflepuff rules!" Oliver called out before getting booed by a third of the box.

"I would say no, but the last rule is we eat all the junk food until we feel sick. SO Hufflepuff Rules!" Harry said as Becky lead the procession of food carts into the box full of food.

"That's Right Potter Hufflepuff does Rule!" Susan called out.

"Pipe down Bones. There will be no house fighting in the box. Them's the rules. And it's not Potter any more remember. Now dig in!" Harry said laughing as a line formed at the bar. Emma and Andy stood behind the bar and started helping by serving drinks. Harry thanked them both with a look.

Harry sat between Oliver and the twins on the couch as Dan turned on the tv which was playing the last Dragons game against the San Francisco Unicorns from two days ago. almost instantly the boys shut up and started watching the game.

"Now this is quidditch! Just Chasers against the keeper. No stupid snitch." oliver said.

"But also no beaters." Fred said.

"Yeah there's no violence." George said.

"No, but they play full contact. Look." Harry said as the replay showed a dragon's player get plowed into by a Unicorn player almost unseating both of them.

"I take it back. This is extremely violent." George said with a grin.

"It gets worse, the Chicago Shadow Cats have an all female front line full of girls that play very dirty and get away with it because they move fast. If the refs can't see it on the field they can't call the foul. They can't go off the replay." Dora said.

"That's insidious, I like it. I need to get back into shape and try out for one of these teams. I guess I should figure out where I'm sleeping tonight first." Oliver said glancing at Dora.

"Well you'll have the same options everyone has. It depends on your situation and where you want to live. For now we have magical tents that's we're going to set up in our game room for the next few days until everyone can get a chance to catch their breath. You're my captain Olly, I'm not going to bring you over and toss you out on to the streets. Tomorrow we'll take you guys around the circuit of doctor, wand maker, tailor, department store, and finally tattoo shop to get a memory shield tattoo put on." Harry said.

"Memory shield?" Fred asked.

"Yes, we all have one and I'm going to have to ask you guys to get one if you want to have any part in this. Until you get one we can't talk in front of you guys. The old man is a master of the mind arts. He routinely reads people's minds. One look into your eyes and our base of operations would be compromised. But with one small tattoo they can question you under truth potion and not get anything out of your heads." Harry said rolling up his sleeve to show off his Shadow tattoo.

"That's crazy. We didn't know." George said.

"It seems like we didn't know anything at all." Fred amended. The two brothers looked at each other for a few seconds without speaking. They turned back to Harry.

"We want to help." George said.

"We don't want anything to happen to our family." Fred said.

"We think most of them are clueless." George said.

"Mum's in charge of everything and we're sure she didn't tell dad about any of this." Fred said.

"Charlie and Bill have been out of the country for years." George said.

"And they never come back unless they have to." Fred said.

"And they leave as fast as they can without talking to Mum." George said.

"They avoid the Headmaster like the plague." Fred amended.

"Then there's Percy." George said.

"Left the family, and changed his name to Weathersby." Fred said.

"We always thought it was because mum is super controlling." George said.

"And nosey." Fred added.

"But now we think something more is going on with all of them." George said.

"Not to mention dad." Fred said.

"He wrote them all off as if it was no big deal that they distanced themselves." George explained.

"We want to get to the bottom of it." Fred said.

"We also want to help you take out Dumbledore." George said.

"We can provide you with information from the Order." Fred said.

"And fight by your side when the time comes." George said.

"Boys, I'm ashamed to say it, but when I heard about the betrayal by your brother, sister, and mother I wrote you all off. You two have always been there acting as the bad influence big brothers I always wanted. I'll make you a deal, act as my spies for the war and I'll make you ICW agents." Harry said and again the twins looked at each other and had a conversation with looks, shrugs and head shakes.

"We appreciate the offer Harry but we want to do what we're doing." Fred said.

"Running a joke shop is our life's work." George said.

"It's all we ever wanted to do." Fred said.

"And you can keep doing it. I'm not making you permanent members. I'm giving you a license to kill. A get out of jail free card. This is just so nothing bad happens to you during the war." Harry said.

"Oh?" They both said nodding.

"If you want to stay on after the war and work in our R&D department that's up to you. I can tell you this now. I'm willing to fund your joke franchise if I can have you two working in a lab with Hermione as her problem solvers. You can work freelance as idea guys or you can work full time in the lab and use your lab to make new joke products. I like how your minds works. You're potion injected sweets, dung bombs, and dark powder could have a lot of military and tactical uses. The pay would be very good, and you can open as many shops as you want all around the world. I would like it if you didn't sell the potentially harmful thing you make for us to the public but aside from that it's up to you." Harry said trying to hide his smirk.

"We'll talk it over. For now we'll take the tattoos and badges." Fred said.

"The girls need tattoos too. We tell them everything. We want them protected." George said.

"Done and done. Now I have to go mingle with the new guests, see you boys in a bit." Harry said patting the twins on the back as he stood up.

"Getting the twins to work for me?" Hermione asked meeting him as he walked around the couch.

"I'm trying. Those two can be scary when they put their minds to it. I want that on our side." Harry said.

"It's a good plan. We have to talk to our guests. I think we should start with Dean and his mum Maggie. She's in her forties, she's a widow. I remember Dean saying his dad died in a car crash before he got his letter. Maggie is an ER trauma surgeon. If she's magical at all we need to get her working for us." Hermione said.

"We'll test all of them. I have a feeling we're going to get magical results from everyone. If one in five Americans are squibs then I'm betting it higher in the UK." Harry said as they walked up to Dean and His mum who were standing off to the side talking to Emma. Hermione smiled at her Mum.

"Hello Dr. Thomas, it's nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances. I'm sorry about the abrupt uprooting of your life and I promise we will do everything we can to get you set up in a good hospital of your choosing." Harry said shaking her hand as lightly as he could. Her hands were so soft and delicate. She was a small woman which was kind of funny seeing as Dean was over six foot tall. In fact she was very much the opposite of Dean. He was darker, she was lighter. He had dark eyes, she had light greenish brown eyes. Dean had a high top fade, she had long braids pulled back into a ponytail.

"I can't believe we had to pack up our house and run away from wizard Nazis." Maggie Thomas said looking slightly dazed. Dean put his arm around his smaller mother and held her to his side.

"I think she's in a bit of shock. It happened so fast. Two weeks ago some people from the Order came by asking for you. A week later we got word that the Headmaster was shot and Death Eaters attacked the bank. Then today we hear it was you that attacked the death eaters and Dumbledore because he's a dark lord too. It's a bit much." Dean said.

"Well don't worry about anything for the next few days. We have a magical two bedroom tent waiting for you two back at the house. We'll get you a new wand tomorrow. We'll also get you guys some things you'll need as well as some spending money until you can get your bank account transferred over. We have time on our side right now. We need to take it and figure out what happens next." Harry said confidently as he patted both of them on the shoulder.

"Thanks mate. You're a lifesaver." Dean said.

"Eat, drink, and relax. Also, before we forget we wanted to test a theory. You see the UK wizarding world, on top of being a mess, was also more xenophobic then you can imagine. Apparently they didn't test babies when they were born for a magical core. They also withheld letters to mages on the lower end of the power scale. We want to test everyone we bring over. So far we found out Hermione's dad is a squib and her mum is a witch. Would you mind if we tested you Dr. Thomas?" Harry asked.

"What kind of test?" The bewildered woman asked.

"It's a simple spell. Hermione will demonstrate it on me and Dean first." Harry said pulling his shirt down a bit and unzipping the top of his vest for her.

Hermione hit him with a gold spell and 309 floated over his head. She turned her wand on Dean and he held out his arms to give her a clear shot. She hit him with the spell and it read 135. Hermione turned her wand on Maggie and she stood up tall and held out her arms. Hermione hit her with the spell and the number 32 came up.

"What's that mean?" Dean asked.

"It means she's a squib. She can take magical medicines, she can use magical items like brooms, and she can practice non wanded magics like potions and unpowered rune based enchantments. Emma can fill you in. The upside is a longer lifespan and a better immune system, including a resistance to cancer." Harry said with a smile.

"Immunity to cancer?" Maggie asked looking shocked.

"I'm not sure how it works but tomorrow we are going to visit a magical doctor, he might be able to explain it better. For now, eat, drink, and enjoy the game." Harry said patting them on the back as he moved on to Katie and her mum who were sitting by the bar with Angelina and Alicia.

"Katie's mum is Nancy Bell, divorced. Katie doesn't talk to her dad. I think Nancy is a mid level office drown for a finance company." Hermione said as they approached the four women.

"If it isn't my three favorite chasers." Harry said approaching them. The girls all turned around and hugged him and Hermione.

"You did good for yourself Harry." Angelina said.

"I'll say, the seeker got himself the smartest girl in school, and enough loot to afford all this." Alicia said.

"I had to do something. I can't let the old man run my life and you know the adults weren't going to fight the war. I had to get away and set up a plan. I'm glad you guys are okay." Harry said hugging Katie.

"We're going to be fine as soon as we go back and get our folks out. My family was almost wiped out in the last war." Alicia said.

"And so was mine, there's a price to pay for being on the light side in a war. We have some money, we can close up shop and move to the states for a year or two. Maybe longer if we like it." Angelina said.

"Whatever you guys need, you got it. The twins have signed up to act as spies for me. They are going to be ICW agents for the duration of the war." Harry said.

"Did they now?" Alicia said as the two girls walked over to the couch. Harry grinned at Katie and her mum who, like like Dean's mum was looking a bit shell shocked.

"How are you two holding up?" Harry asked the two brunettes that looked almost the same age in spit of a twenty year age gap.

"We're hanging in there." Katie said with a sad smile that was shared by Nancy.

"I understand. Cutting bait and running from everything you know is hard. But I want you to know you have our full support. Nancy, I understand you work in finance?" Harry asked.

"I do, I work for Barclays as an account manager. I'm a paper pusher but it pays the bills." She said.

"I know you just got here and you're still in a state of shock, but the security company we're building is going to have an accounting department and we're going to need staff. I want you to know there is a job waiting for you as soon as you feel up to it. In fact why don't I introduce you to Ted and you can talk to him about it. Ted!" Harry called out and Ted and Andy came over.

"You called boss?" Ted asked sardonically.

"I did maths nerd. This is Nancy Bell, she was an account manager for Barclays. I think she might be a good fit for your department." Harry said looking at Ted as he talked. Ted saw the look and smiled.

"I'm sure she will be, we'll talk about the job, but for now I think we should get to know her first." Ted said with a friendly grin.

"Before you guys get too deep in the bottomless beer bucket we need to test her magic level." Harry said.

"Magic level?" Katie asked looking at her mum.

"It would seem the UK has not checked the magic level of babies born on the island. As you'll see, here in America one in five people are squibs, so far it's looking like the number is higher in the UK. The school also withheld letters for muggleborns that were under 100 on the mage scale. Mia's mum is a witch and her dad is a squib. We just tested Dean's mum, she's a squib. We want to test your mum to see if the pattern holds true." Harry said.

"How do you test?" Nancy asked sounding excited. She didn't know most of what they were talking about but she understood what a squib and a witch was.

"It's a simple spell mum. Go ahead." Katie said.

"If you'll hold still for a moment." Hermione said pulling out her wand and pointing it at Nancy. She cast the spell and the number came back 47.

"High level squib." Hermione said as Katie hugged her mum.

"Well it looks like we have more than a job to talk about." Andy said.

"I'll leave you guys to it." Harry said leading Hermione away to the seats at the front of the box where the three Creevey men were sitting with Luna and Dan.

"Colin and Dennis's Dad's name is Nigel. He served in the military, Colin told me once that his Mum died in childbirth with Dennis and it haunts both his brother and his father. He also suffers from a few combat injuries and a bit of Post traumatic stress from the war." Hermione said as they walked over. They saw Colin holding hands with Luna. Dennis was watching the two teams warm up. Nigel was talking to Dan. It looked like they were talking about their war stories.

"Colin, I hear you have eyes for my little sister." Harry said in an all too friendly tone. Colin for his part looked slightly panicked. Luna looked like she wanted to kill him.

"Um, yes Harry." Colin said in a wavering tone. At this point the conversation drew the attention of his brother and the two men sitting close by.

"Well good. I'd much rather have you with our Moon Child then someone we don't know. You're an honorable man Colin. I trust you fully." Harry said patting the younger man on the shoulder. The brothers Creevey had done a little growing since the school year let out Colin was almost as tall as Harry with long blonde hair and a developing square jaw. With a bit of meat on his bones he'd look like a young thor. Dennis was getting up there too. He was turning into a clone of his brother.

"Harry, why are you bothering us?" Luna asked in a tone that was just a little too nice. It promised pain if he didn't go away.

"I'm checking up on my little sister and her date. Big brother duties and all. Have fun you two. Carry on." Harry said with a loving smile that Luna returned when she saw he wasn't there to mess with them.

"Hey Harry, this is so cool." Dennis said looking a bit starry eyed at Harry.

"I'm glad you're having a good time Dennis. You better grab a few slices of pizza while it's hot. It goes fast." Harry said patting the boy on the shoulder as they made their way to the grown ups. Dan smiled at them when they dropped into the seats next to Nigel.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Creevey. Your Boys are two of the best men I know. Stand up and honorable." Harry said shaking the man's hand.

"I raised my boys right. Thought them discipline and hard work. But those two taught me how to be a normal guy again. I was so tightly wound when I got out of the service. Agness gave me two good sons to raise, and learning how made me human again." Nigel said looking at his boys.

"You were in the service?" Harry asked.

"I was a light infantry fighter. I bounced around a few regerments. I saw action in Kosovo, and Yugoslavia, both deployments were a case study in mismanagement clusterfuckery. I got out briefly after that and met Agnes, we got married, she had Colin, then 9/11 happened and I got called back in. Agnes was pregnant at the time and we had a little one to look after. But duty calls and all that piss and vinegar patriotic bullshit. I spent three months in the sandbox before I took a sniper round to the helmet. It was a glancing blow but it knocked me the fuck out. I woke up in a field hospital with a bad concussion and partial vision loss in my left eye. I made it home just in time to watch my wife die on an operating table from an emergency C-section." Nigel said in a dark comical tone of voice.

"Fuck me, when it rains it pours." Dan said.

"I'll say. Here I was with two babies, partially blind and unemployed. If it wasn't for my neighbor Beth I would have been fucked. She was a stay at home mum. She helped me so much that first year her husband thought we had a thing going on." Nigel said laughing at the memory.

"How did you end up as a milkman?" Harry asked.

"It was the only job I was qualified to do. I'm not what you would call smart. I barely made it through school. As soon as I was old enough, I joined the service. When I got out the only skills I had were killing people and marching ten miles with a pack on my back. With my partial blindness I couldn't be a cop or security guard. I had my service disability pay so we weren't hurting for cash. But I got bored. I saw a flyer for a job posting for a milkman. The next thing I know I'm making the round of our small town dropping of the fresh dairy every morning." Nigel said with a smile.

"Well, if you let us check something we may be able to help your eyesight." Harry said.

"Really? I thought magic didn't work on normal folks." Nigel said looking confused.

"That's the thing Nigel, you might be magical. The UK magical government made it a habit not to check kids for a core when they're born so countless scores of normal folks might be squibs. That means you have magic, but not enough to cast spells. On top of that the school didn't send out muggleborn acceptance letters to mages on the weak end of the scale. With one harmless spell we can tell if you have magic. Ask Dan, he thought he was a normal bloke, turns out he's a squib and doc Carter fixed his injured leg in a matter of minutes." Harry said.

"It's true Nigel. The kids tested me and one office visit later I could walk and run like a man half my age." Dan said with a nod.

"Bloody Hell. Test away." Nigel said. Hermione hit him with the spells and the number said 94.

"Nigel, I'm happy to report that you have a core, and with a wand and some training you're going to make a very good wizard." Hermione said with a smile.

"I'm a wizard!?" Nigel yelled.

"Yes you are, we'll get you a wand tomorrow and basic magical lessons will start tomorrow afternoon." Hermione said.

"You're a Wizard dad!?" Colin asked hugging his dad.

"I am son. I'm so happy." Nigel said. Harry looked around the room a all the smiles.

The mood in the box improved drastically after that. Things got better when the Dragons scrapped out a win over the Dallas Outlaws 97 to 94. Harry handed Becky his customary large tip and lead the jubilant group out of the box. The group took four portkeys back to the Potter building. There was some scrambling to set up magical tents and get everyone settled in for bed.

Harry and Hermione spent a few mental hours studying. Harry practically devoured Hermione's four books on French, German, Italian, and conversational spanish. Hermione spent time in his cabin pouring through advanced enchantment books. By the time they drifted off to bed Harry was holding a conversation with Cleo in French and Hermione was working on the blueprints for something. Harry wasn't sure what she was talking about when she said stealth flying ships but he was happy his mad scientist girlfriend was happy.

The next morning Harry got up at six and roused the twins and their girls out of bed. He cast cleaning spells at them and hustled them all down to the basement and into his Camaro. He drove through McDonald's for breakfast sandwiches and coffee and drove them right to Rick's tattoo shop. Rick was there along with Harrison and two other tattoo artist. They all looked hungover and dead tired.

"I'm sorry for the short notice again. I swear I'm going to make normal appointments for the rest of my group. I also brought extra sandwiches and coffee and I'm paying you double for doing this for me. It's not right to force you guys to make art this early in the morning." Harry said shaking everyone's hand.

"It's okay Harry, you brought us a lot of business in the last few days and we like working on your group. Now who's first?" Rick asked taking a coffee and chugging a third of the cup.

"I'll go first." Fred said.

"Good, you come with me, the rest of you look at books and figure out what you want to get." Rick said leading Fred into the back room.

It took a little over two hours for them to be finished. The twins got matching red haired weasel tattoos on their shoulders while Alicia got a small clean sweep broom on her shoulder blade and Angelina got a blue butterfly on her lower back. As the girls were finishing up Harry walked the twins thought the ICW agent forms and by the time the girls were done the twins were agents. Harry paid twice as much and made Rick take the cash, he also tipped each tattoo artist a couple hundred bucks.

They drove to Davids shop and all four of them were fit with new untraceable wands and hidden wand holders. From there they portkeyed back to the Potter building and they were met by Dora who handed Harry his glamour watch and a portkey to London. Harry escorted the group back using the portkey to the Muggle branch of Gringotts.

"Well this is where we part ways. Twins, these are portkeys to New Jersey, and these portkeys are to the Potter building. If you run into trouble, use the Jersey portkey to get off the island. Once you pop over to the stadium run around the parking lot to the other side before you pop over to the house. If your not being chased just use the portkey to the house. It will land you in a locked room off the lobby. Once the door men see it's you they'll let you out. It's to stop someone from taking your portkey. Girls, this is the same set up." Harry said handing over two gold cards to each of them.

"We talked about it, we're going to get our families over to America in the next few days." Alicia said.

"Good, we can put them up until they can get a place. And we can help them with that too. These are Cell phones. My number as well as everyone else's number is programmed in there. I also slipped a portkey target card into the phone case. If you're ever in trouble, call me and we'll pop over to help." Harry said handing out phones to each of them.

"Lastly I have these vests. Put them on now under your clothes. These should be worn as a base layer. When they are zipped up they vanish from sight. When you get up in the morning this should be the first thing you put on. When you guys come back to the house in a few days I hope to have guns for you guys. Aside from that, that's all I have for you. Good luck guys. Don't hesitate to call for anything day or night. Girls when you get your family's ready to go call and we'll help get them over. Portkeys work better when less than four people use them at once." Harry said hugging them all before they walked out of the bank. Harry pulled out his portkey to Frank's shop in Paris and popped over. He landed in the bar and the bartender took one look at him and waved him into the back. Harry walked into the work room and saw Frank.

"Frank! It's so good to see you my friend." Harry said in what he felt was perfect french with a big smile.

"Your accent is shit. Please Harry, my ears can not take you murdering my language." Frank said with a smirk.

"Fuck you, how that for french?" Harry said trying not to laugh.

"Perfect!" Frank said making them both laugh as they hugged.

"I brought the guns I want you to enchant. I have 20 of these Sig p226 X-Fives and 40 spare magazines. That's five more then we talked about but I can cover the difference when I pick them up." Harry said pulling the 20 gun cases out of his bag and setting them on the work table along with a bag of magazines.

"Good. I'll have them ready for you in three days." Frank said.

"Perfect. I also need a few more Sig P226 tacops and mags if you have them, as well as a few more MP5ks. I have the cash for six each and twice as many mags." Harry said dropping seven bricks of cash on the table.

"You're in luck. I have six of each, but not much more than that." Frank said as his guys gathered the guns and magazines into a duffle bag and handed it to Harry.

"Frank, Have you ever thought about going straight?" Harry asked shoved the duffel bag into his messenger bag.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

"Come work for me. I'm working for the ICW and I'm starting my own private security company. I can use a full time enchanter of your skill. We're going to start hiring troops in a couple of months but we're going to start stockpiling guns pretty soon so we'll have the weapons on hand when we start training our troops in the new year. I have people that can enchant but hiring you guys to work for me full time would be better. I'm going to need guys to take care of the enchanted equipment." Harry said.

"What is the pay like?" Frank asked shocking two of the men at the work tables.

"You would be the quartermaster of our armory and supply depot. Starting salary will be $500,000 a year. You would also have an apartment in a magical building in New York, a company enchanted car, and free magical medical. All of your guys would come in as your team making $150,000 a year. No car or apartment, but they would have the option of living on the military base I'm going to build. We're looking to build a small town around the base with something like 250 one family homes with free rent, and dirt cheap utilities and property taxes. Portkeys to and from New York every day for work. You guy have families? It would be nice not to have to work out of a back room. How much a year do you pay the local Aurors to stay off your back?" Harry asked.

"It sounds nice. But I have my bar." Frank said.

"Keep it, hire staff and someone to look after the place and use it as a side income. A legit bar in the magical district has to pull in good business." Harry said.

"What about all the stock I have?" Frank asked waving at the crates of stolen and illegal things in the room.

"I'll buy it out if you come work for me. We can use most of it for the company. How many enchanters and potions brewers do you have?" Harry asked.

"I have six enchanters but I can get a few more. I have three potions makers that are top of the line." Frank said scratching his chin.

"I don't need an answer now so think about it. But in a few weeks I'm going to need a full time team of enchanters and I'll need to know if I have your guys or I need to hire a new team." Harry said shaking Frank's hand one more time before walking out of the bar. He left a very thoughtful Frank Martin in his wake.

Harry walked a few blocks to make sure no one was following him before he portkeyed to the Potter building and right into a procession of friends and family members heading for the Beast which was waiting by the front door with Dan in the driver's seat.

"You're just in time Harry. I was just about to call you. Expand your Camaro." Hermione said standing with the Creevey boys and Luna.

"Yes dear." Harry said as he looked at his watch. It was half past nine and even with all the things he accomplished so far this morning, his day was just getting started.

Harry expanded his Camaro and let them all get in. He pulled a can of monster from his bag, chilled it with a wave of his hand, and chugged half the can. He light a mini cigar and Dan beeped behind him in the Beast letting him know the rest of the group was buckled in and ready to roll. Harry slammed the other half of the can and vanished it with a wave of his hand as he rolled out of the front driveway leading the way of another day of adventure.


	14. Chapter 14

Harry drove the group of his friends to Doc Carter's office. By the time they got there it was just after ten. Harry was feeling the caffeine rush from the Monster and cigar. Harry and Neville went into one of the exam rooms for a quick check up first. During the visit Harry decided to see if he could get Doc Carter on the team.

"Doc Carter, you have a nice practice here. But have you ever wanted a bigger space? Maybe a bigger staff of doctors and nurses?" Harry asked yawning in the middle.

"Harry, get to the point before you hurt yourself tripping over your words. You did not have your Wheaties this morning did you?" Doc Carter asked with a smile.

"I did not. To tell you the truth I'm tired and I just started my day. I'm building a private magical security company. One of the things I want to add is an in-house hospital. A floor or two with a few doctors and their nursing staff to handle everything from everyday colds and check ups to battle wounds and things like that. You would be the head of the Medical department. Starting salary is $550,000 a year, an apartment in a magical building, a company car, and I'd say free health care but that's a given for you. You would be in charge of a team of how ever many doctors and staff you think you need. You would have control over the lay out of your department and you would only answer to me and the person I have to run everything." Harry said.

"$550,000? That's more then I make now and I have to pay New York city rent prices on this place. I also have staff costs." Doc Carter said kicking the idea around.

"That's the starting salary. If the company really booms and we get really big that number can go way up. I can see a day when that number could be double that. I'll tell you what, I'll chip in an extra $100,000 when you sign because we're going to have a bunch of soldiers that need all kinds of care before we really kick off the hiring. Besides, I like you. You're easy to get along with and good at your job. On top of that you've fixed a lot of problems for our family." Harry said.

"I'll talk it over with my wife and my staff and let you know." Doc Carter said.

"Please do, I'd like to keep your nerses. They've all spent time at the house over the last few days and they're all very nice." Harry said.

"I'll let you know when I drop by tonight. By the way I think tonight might be the night. Yesterday I saw good reading from Alice when I gave her the potion. I think tonight she might get up. I don't want to get your hopes up son but I'm excited by the results I'm seeing so far." Doc Carter said with a big smile.

"I hope so too. The waiting is killing me." Neville said with a grin.

They sat in the waiting room as the rest of the new group saw Doc Carter. Like before the kids went first and as soon as Dean was done Harry carted them over to the wand maker. By the time the adults made it to the wand maker the kids were headed to Geno's shop to get fitted for formal clothes as well as vests and bullet proof suits. They met the adults at Moretti's for lunch. During lunch Harry got a call from Abby.

"Harry, I got you a building." She said without preamble.

"Okay. Where and how much?" Harry asked.

"Broadway and Battery park. It's right across the street from Battery Park and in front of the Charging Bull of wall street. It used to be a 20 floor office building that belonged to a banking institution up until 2008. Now it's a half rebuilt 30 floor condemned office building about to go into foreclosure. The owner's of the property are in deep debt to the goblins so we can get this for a deal. We can get the building for about 75 million and the goblins can finish the renovations for about another 25 million. But for that price they can make the building exactly how you want it. Including shooting ranges, research labs, and everything else on your list the building also has a five floor underground parking garage that again is half built. At the moment it's just a big ass hole in the ground under the building. The project is going to need tons of concrete, steel, and glass to finish. But the goblins assure me that they can get it done in a month. You want to came down here and take a look at the place?" She asked.

"Yeah, we just got our food, we'll be there in half an hour." Harry said hanging up. Harry looked at his watch. Traffic was going to suck at this time.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"Abby found us an office building. It's a half built 30 floor building overlooking Battery park and the charging bull of Wall Street. 75 million for the building and another 25 million for the goblins to fix it. They're waiting for us. I don't want to keep the goblins waiting too long. I think we need to get this to go and head down there now." Harry said looking apologetic. Every adult at the table shared a grin. Harry acted more grown up by the day.

"Let's go." Hermione said with an easy smile. She saw it too.

Twenty minutes later they were weaving in and out of traffic heading south in Harry's little black Ferrari. When they pulled up to the front of the building Harry saw a small parking lot that used to be the front walkway of the building. Harry pulled in next to Abby's Maserati and saw her standing in the front lobby with three short fat men who were obviously goblins in glamours.

"What do you think?" Abby said waving at the rundown half built building around them like a Price's Right model.

"My honest opinion? I think it's a total shit hole and I can't believe we're standing here in this half built rotted out corpse of a building. It looks like a good strong breeze will knock it over. With all that being said, I do like the view of the park. It's amazing." Harry said looking at the park across the street.

"It might not look like much now Mr. Steel, but in a few weeks you'll be shocked it's the same building." Said one of the short men.

"Harry this is the head of the New York bank branch Venum Drinker, and this is the head architect of the goblin nation Stone Layer, and his assistant and son Stone Cutter. They will be in charge of the project if you buy this building." Abby said as Harry and Hermione shook their hands.

"I like the location and the size of the building but isn't there a building that's already built that we can buy?" Harry asked looking around the old lobby. He walked up to the big hole in the middle of the lobby surrounded by caution tape. He looked down and saw a sixty foot drop into a cement lined hole full of metal beams and exposed rebar.

"The short answer is no. Any building on the market big enough to fit everything you want that's under 200 million will require a lot of renovations to fit your needs. Any building over 200 million that would fit most of your needs without having to do a major overhaul is occupied and it would take more than a year to put together a deal for that much money. This is your best bet unless you want to set up shop in New Jersey or one of the other boroughs. Your other option is Chicago or L.A. but again you would run into the same situation. Essentially I've gone over every building up for sale and this is it." Abby said.

"In that case, I'll take it. But see if you can get the price of this place down. Even if it's a few million dollars off the asking price it will make a big difference in the end." Harry said.

"Great. We'll head back to the bank and hammer out the details of the sale. We should have paperwork to sign in a few hours and the building should be in your name by next week." Abby said.

"And I will have a few different options and blueprints for you to look at." Stone Layer said.

"Very good guys. Now if you'll excuse us we're going to grab our lunch from the car and eat it in the park. We'll meet you back at the bank." Harry said shaking their hands again.

"Take your time. We have to talk out the numbers." Abby said as they walked away. Harry lead Hermione across the street to the park and over to a set of picnic tables. Harry set out the food trays and Hermione conjured the cutlery and glasses.

"What do you think about our new office?" Harry asked looking at the building across the street.

"For a second there I was wondering if you were going to ask my opinion." Hermione said with a smirk.

"I always want your opinion. But this was not much of a choice, it was either this or something more expensive and we'd still have to throw money at it. For the price it's hard to beat. What do you think?" Harry asked seeing that he had fucked up. But Hermione saw it too and she smiled at him reassuringly.

"I agree with everything you said plus I like the view. I bet from the top floor you can see all the way to the statue of liberty. I wonder who gets that corner office?" She asked pointing to the top floor corner office facing the park with a smile. Harry smiled too.

"Me, I get it. You get an office on your floor with your labs and things. We don't want to put that on the top floor. No, we'll stick you down on fifth floor. Maybe if you're nice to me we'll put you on the tenth floor." Harry said.

"You would put my office that far away from your office?" she said in mock hurt.

"Sure I would. How else am I going to carry on an office relationship with Abby. I don't want you around to cramp my style when I put the moves on her." Harry said trying really hard not to laugh.

"I'd like to see you try to flirt with Abby. She's way out of your league." Hermione said trying to keep the conversation going.

"How would you know?" Harry asked primly.

"Because I'm out of your league and she's way hotter than me. You're lucky I allow you to touch me Steel." Hermione said laughing half way through and ending the game.

"Well you got one thing right." Harry said.

"What, that I'm out of your league?" She asked.

"No, that Abby's way hotter than you." Harry said to which he got a napkin to the face. "See what I mean. Abby would never throw things at me." Harry said acting hurt.

"Did the paper napkin hurt your face?" She asked.

"It did woman. It hurt lots." Harry said.

"Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?" Hermione asked leaning over the table to kiss him.

"I always do." Harry said kissing her back.

Lunch took two hours and included a lot of kissing and a walk around the park. When they made it to the bank it was after four and half the staff was gone or leaving for the day. They were shown to a conference room where Abby and Venom Drinker sat across the table from a group of five men in expensive suits.

"Oh good, you're here. Agent Harry Steel, I'd like you to meet the lawyers of Holdbrook holdings the current owners of the property." Abby said digging into his title when she announced him. So he played along.

Harry shook each or their hands and introduced himself as 'Agent Harry Steel, ICW security council undersecretary'. By the end of the line they looked much more ready to deal. In fact they looked like they would sign anything to get out of the office and away from a ICW agent. He made a note to have Marcus look into these shifty business men at a later date. Harry was all too happy to play the part of an Agent that knew something they didn't want him to know. Every time they countered Abby's low ball offer Harry made sure to lean over and whisper something in her ear.

To add to the fear to the mix Harry locked eyes with Hermione, slipped into her mind and had a quick conversation with her. He pulled out of her head and blinked. No one noticed the conversation. Hermione slipped her phone out of her bag and called his phone. He looked at the phone, stood up abruptly, ended the call, put the phone up to his ear, and walked off to the corner of the conference room just in earshot of the shifty business men.

"Hello sir, no we're just hammering out the details now sir. Holdbrook holdings. No Holdbrook. Like hold not hole. No sir. I don't think we should pull their file Mr. Secretary. They seem like they're dealing no good fath. I should be back at the office soon sir. I'll see if I can speed this up. Yes sir." Harry said putting his phone away.

"Sorry, when the boss calls you have to answer. Where were we?" Harry asked taking his seat.

It took just twenty more minutes to settle on a price, 62.5 Million dollars and draw up the paperwork. That was just 2.5 million more than what they owed the goblins. In fact Harry cut two checks, one for the bank for 60 million dollars and one for the company. By the time they all signed the documents it was half past five. Harry invited Abby and Venom Drinker to dinner at a steakhouse down the street.

They gorged themselves on big expensive cuts of flame grilled cow and red wine. Harry drank just as much if not more than Abby and Hermione. He shared a cigar and a glass of 25 year old Highland Park scotch with Venom Drinker outside on the patio where they traded war stories of how they each battled the king of serpents.

Harry and Hermione portkeyed back to the Potter building just before eight. When they walked in they found a hive of activity as people put away their things from a trip to Macy's. Harry found Doc Carter talking to Neville in the hallway outside his parents bedroom.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Harry asked.

"Good, I just administered their potions. We saw a huge spike in brain function in Alice. We're hoping she comes around some time tonight. If she does the nurse has orders to call me." Doc Carter said.

"Why don't I give you a portkey to the building. That way you don't have to drive over in a hurry." Harry said pulling out one of the spare portkeys to the portkey room in the lobby.

"Thank's Harry. I talked to my wife about the job. If you can guarantee at least five years of work at the pay you talked about earlier then I'm in." Doc Carter said.

"I can open an account at the bank and deposit the first five years of pay into it if you'd like?" Harry said without a hint of hesitation.

"No need. Just your word is good enough for me." Doc Carter said holding out his hand.

"Five years at least. No matter if the company folds you'll get paid. I'll add it to your contract." Harry said shaking his hand.

"In that case I'll be happy to sign up." Carter said with a smile.

"I'll have my lawyer draw up the paperwork and we'll bring it by your office along with keys to an apartment in the building. How many bedrooms do you need?" Harry asked.

"I have two teen girls that hate sharing a room so a three bedroom would really be a lifesaver." Doc Carter said.

"I'll see what we have at the moment." Harry said leading him out the door. When he came back he saw Neville standing in the hallway.

"You okay?" Harry asked.

"I'm nervous. My mum could get up any minute now." Neville said looking anxious.

"Then let's go sit in the room. Come on, I'll keep you company." Harry said.

"Yeah. Okay." Neville said.

"We should change into more comfortable clothing first. I'll meet you in there." Harry said patting him on the back as he headed to the master bedroom. He came back out a few minutes latter in a black tracksuit, white t-shirt, and the red smoking slippers he found in the closet that were super comfortable. He saw Hermione coming down the hall.

"There you are." She said.

"Neville's on edge because his mum could get up soon. We're going to sit in their room. Most likely all night." Harry said with a smile.

"Good thinking. Mind if I join you?" Hermione said.

"I think we should all sit in the room with him. Maybe play some cards. Keep the mood light. No drinking or anything like that, but keep it fun." Harry said as Neville came out of the room across the hall in black track pants and a tank top which showed off his big arms and his bear tattoo.

"Hey Nev, Mia wants to sit with us. I think it's a good idea. You want laughter and fun to be the first thing your mum hears when she get up right?" Harry said with a grin.

"I think that's a great idea." Neville said with a matching smile.

"Good. I'll go roundup so more friends and get comfortable. You two set up a card table and chairs in the corner of the room." Hermione said walking off towards the other side of the house.

"You want to grab one of the card tables from the game room and a few chairs?" Neville asked.

"No need. Come on." Harry said leading Neville into the outer sitting room where Maria was reading a magazine.

"Hey Maria, my friends are going to sit with me in my parent's room tonight until my mum wakes up. You don't mind do you?" Neville asked.

"Not at all. I think it's a good idea." Maria said with a kind smile.

"We'll try to keep it down." Harry said.

"Don't, maybe a bit of noise will wake them up faster. In some hospitals they leave a loud TV on in coma patients rooms to give their brain stimulus. I've heard stories of coma patients waking up demanding that they 'turn that TV down.' So be my guest. Go crazy. I took a nap earlier so I'm going to be up for the rest of the night." She said.

"You want to join us? We're going to play cards and eat junk food." Harry said like they were doing something naughty.

"Maybe later." She said laughing at the way he said it.

"Your loss. If you change your mind you know where to find us." Harry said grabbing a half dozen logs from the fire wood pile next to the fireplace. "Nev grab the rest of those logs." Harry said walking into the bedroom.

Harry shrank the two dressers and the dressing table and put them on a bookcase. He moved the two chairs in the room over to the now empty side of the room. He set the six logs on the ground, closed his eyes and waved his wand over the logs. The six logs formed together and became a 3x6 foot polished wood table with green felt top. Neville dropped the six logs on the floor and Harry turned them into six matching chairs.

"Wow, that's some advanced transfiguration Harry." Neville said taking a seat in one of the chair to see if it would hold his weight, which it did. The chair was rock solid and contoured to fit his butt making it oddly comfortable. He got up and pressed on the seat of the wooden chair and saw it had a cushioning charm on it.

"Harry, you transfigured a chair with a cushioning charm built in. That's supper advanced work. How the hell did you do it and can you teach me?" Neville asked.

"I'm not sure. I just did it. I am an arch mage after all." Harry said kicking himself for doing too well with his first bit of advanced transfiguration, and for lying to his brother.

"Oh, yeah that makes sense." Neville said nodding and Harry felt worse.

"Shit. I can't lie to you. I have a bunch of Voldemort's knowledge floating around in my head." Harry said.

"Bloody Hell!" Neville said looking shocked.

"Look Neville, when the rest of the group gets here we need to have a talk about it. It's not a bad thing. It's just spells and stuff, and it's not like I know it all. It's hard to explain. Like I said as soon as the rest of the group gets here. We'll talk about it." Harry said.

"Look Harry, you're my brother, if you say it's good, then it's good. I trust you. More than anyone else, I trust you. Just answer one question, does Mia know?" Neville asked.

"She does, she's been in my head and she has access to some of it too. Like I said it's a whole thing. I'll explain it to the whole group at once." Harry said sitting back in his chair.

"Okay. I'm not overreacting right?" Neville asked sitting across from him.

"No, if you told me you had a head full of the dark lords knowledge I'd react about the same. Although I probably would have stunned you, bound you to a chair, and then let you talk. The fact that I'm not means you're a better man than me." Harry said.

"Not really. You're more powerful than me, and you have your wand in hand which makes you more powerful. You're also armed, and you have your vest on. The fact that I'm not dead means you're not a threat. I did sit across from you, without the table between us, which blocks the door. I figure I can take you to the ground and hurt you enough to knock you out physically. I'm also hoping Doc Carter was right and that our combat magic don't work on us." Neville said with a smile.

"Is it wrong that I love and respect you more for saying that? Also there is no way in hell you're not working with me at SSI. You and me, with enough training, would be the most dangerous men in the world. A two man wrecking crew. Black ops work, spy stuff, investigating cases. Partners." Harry said with a grin.

"Is this before or after the war?" Neville asked with a smile.

"After but the war should be blissfully short. Violent and extremely one sided, but short. I figure by this time next year we'll be free and clear of the war and looking to take on our next big thing. Also we're not going to put children on the front lines. I'm not the old man. The only non military person fighting this war will be me and anyone who volunteers. And the only reason I'm going is because we need someone powerful enough to break wards and things. Like I said, with the knowledge floating around in my head I can do all that." Harry said.

Hermione and Susan walked in followed by Luna and Colin, Dennis and Katie, and Dean and Hannah. They were all wearing a combination of tracksuits, jogging suits, flannel PJs, and T-shirts. Hermione had a box floating next to her full of junk food and Susan had the wood case with the poker set from the game room. Hermione walked up to the table and saw a bit of tension hanging in the air.

"What going on boys?" She asked taking a seat next to Harry and setting down the box.

"I told Neville about tom's knowledge in my head. Because he's a smart man, he's a bit on edge. Kindly tell him it's fine and not to worry. I'll explain now that you guys are all here." Harry said.

"You have nothing to worry about. Harry's too muggle to use all the knowledge in his head. The day he got a gun and a car were the happiest days of his life. He's itching to get all the mundane information in my head." Hermione said handing out sodas and and candy bars.

"True, I'm more interested in your advanced muggle education and three and a half languages in your head then the dark magic in my head." Harry said laughing as the tention melted away.

"You can access Hermione's head?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, look let me see if I can get you all caught up. You all know I died to get out of all the shit I was under right?" Harry asked and they all nodded.

"Okay, well when I died Harry Potter died and that broke the prophecy between me and Voldemort." Harry said.

"What prophecy?" Susan asked.

"Right, this story is a lot bigger than I thought. I'm going to have to go back to the beginning…" Harry spent the next half hour going over all the facts of the link between him and Tom Riddle. How the severing of the connection left a library of the dark lords knowledge in his head, and how he figured out how it all worked.

"And after Mia read the book she knew mind magics and formed a mental defense. Essentially it's a maze or harsh environment to hide you real mind from intrusion. Because we got these tattoos and the ritual we did to seal off our minds it added a mind guardian on top of that. My mind is a cold snow covered dark forest with a log cabin tucked into the woods that houses my mind. My wolf Shadow is my primary guardian. I added a secondary guardian to my mind in the form of a big black dragon for when I bring Shadow out of my mind into Hermione's mind." Harry explained.

"And my mind is a vast library guarded by a sphinx named Cleopatra. My real mind is in a hidden room in the library. Once we got our minds structured and organized using occlumency from the book, we were able to pass information back and forth between ourselves. We were also able to take in new information faster. Just today I grabbed two books on advanced enchantments out of the library here in the apartment, and after paging through the book for a few minutes and going back over the book in my mind I knew these two books cover to cover. Now that we know it works we want to give you all this ability. In twenty minutes you can have an organized mind and access to every bit of information you ever heard, saw, or read in your life. With a few hours in our heads you can have some of the advanced knowledge we have access to. It's all up to you how little or how much of it you want." Hermione said.

"But aren't you the least bit worried it's knowledge from the dark lords head?" Susan asked.

"No. Then again I have the willpower to know something and not use it. I also have the willpower not to look at all the books he left me. The only reason I haven't purged the dark ritual books from my mind yet is because we might need that information one day to defeat him and I want to have it. But as Hermione can attest to, I have separated out the truly dark arts books and locked them in a chest. I effectively walled off that bit of my mind to hide it from anyone, including me." Harry said with a shrug.

"Okay. When do I get a shot at this?" Neville asked without a hint of fear or excitement. Just a set determination to get on with it.

"We can start now. I think having the tattoo helps you connect with your mind easier so we can get through you, Susan, and Luna tonight. We'll have to wait for you guys until we can get you to the tattoo shop tomorrow. Neville you'll work with me, Hermione you can work with Susan and I'll work with Luna after that. With her being a seer it might be a bit more dangerous to build her mental shields." Harry said.

"And while we work you guys can play cards." Hermione said taking Susan's hand to relax the still timid Puff.

In short order the two couples split up and moved off to the side to sit facing each other as the rest of the group played card. Harry pulled Neville into his mind and they were standing in the cold looking at the forest with Shadow looking at Neville with confusion. Shadow trotted out and stood next to Neville who looked cold standing in the snow in the same track pants and tank top he was wearing in the real world. Harry looked down at himself and saw jeans, boot, a red flannel shirt and leather jacket. Shadow sniffed Neville before looking to Harry confused. Harry walked over and patted Shadow on the head.

"It's fine boy, Neville is my brother. He has full access to my mind." Harry said. Instantly Neville was dressed like he was in jeans, flannel, boots, and leather jacket.

"Thanks, it was starting to get really cold. And those slippers are not snow proof. I love this though. This is nice. It's also very you in an odd way." Neville said waving at the rolling moon lit hills and dark forest.

"Thanks, I love it here. The cabin is over here." Harry said leading them to his cabin.

"Even cooler. We need a place like this in real life. Some place to go hunting and fishing." Neville said taking off his coat and hanging it up by the door like Harry.

Harry sat him in one of the chairs by the fire and handed him the two books on the mind arts. Neville opened the first book and grabbed his head.

"Fuck me." Neville said rubbing his head.

"It goes away. Page through the book then move onto the next one. When you're done we'll head over to your mind." Harry said opening the door to his mind but this time instead of a connecting door right to Hermione's white door there was a short five foot hallway with her white door to the right and two blank walls.

Harry left the door open and walked back into his cabin. He sat next to Neville as the boy paged through the first book. Shadow rested his big head in his lap and Harry gave him head scratches. Neville finished the book and set it down. He rolled his neck and flexed his jaw before picking up the second book. He opened the book and grunted as he blinked the pain out of his eyes. He paged through the smaller book and when he put the book down he looked at Harry.

"Open your mind to us and we'll head over there." Harry said pulling Neville out of the chair and waving at the open door.

As soon as Neville walked through the doorway a second door appeared on the left side wall. The door was made of heavy oak wood planks held together with heavy metal straps. It looked like a castle door and when Neville opened the door they found themselves standing in a flagstone castle entryway with suits of armor and paintings on the walls. There were red and gold carpet runners on the floor and everything was well light by the wall sconese and the big chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The castle had a warm and inviting feel to it. It reminded him of Hermione's library. Neville looked down at his clothes and they shifted to a comfortable well worn tweed suit with a soft cotton button down shirt and red sweater vest. He was even wearing brown smoking slippers. They heard a roar from down the hall that was so loud it shook everything that wasn't nailed down. They heard thumping and claws scraping across the flagstone.

"Harry?" Neville asked looking to his brother for help.

"It's your guardian. Three guesses what it is." Harry said pointing to his shoulder.

Just then a huge grizzly bear came bounding into the entryway. It stood four foot tall at the shoulders and about eight foot long from snout to butt. It had huge claws and a maw big enough to rip a man's head clean off. It looked at Harry and roared. Harry felt his bones rattle. Shadow stood his ground and barked back at the bear. Harry patted his wolf as Neville stepped up and looked the bear in the eye.

"Sit down! This is my brother, he has free access to my mind. You will treat him and his wolf that same as me." Neville said to the bear that was twice as big as he was. The bear let out a sad whimper, sat on his butt, and lowered his head like a scalded puppy.

"Sorry I yelled. But there is no need to roar like that around us." Neville said hugging the bear around his big neck. The bear perked up and grinned at his human and licked his face.

"You're big, what's your name buddy?" Neville asked. The bear sat up and put his arms out. He grunted something and Neville laughed.

"Your Geoffrey? Like the teddy bear I had as a kid?" Neville asked with a big grin. The bear nodded and Neville let out a laugh that was full of sweet innocence. Harry smiled and approached the bear.

"Hello Geoffrey." Harry said petting the big bear. The bear smiled and licked Harry much to Shadows consternation. Shadow got a lick for his trouble and that made the big dog even more indignant. Shadow turned his nose up and stayed away from the bear.

"Geoffrey, can you lead us to my mind?" Neville asked. The bear nodded and started walking.

They followed him across the hall, up the big main staircase, behind a red tapestry, and to a huge vault door. Neville walked up to the door and touched it. The locks clinked open and they were standing in the Gryffindor common room, but there was only one couch, three chairs, a few end tables, a long work table with four chairs, a bathroom, and a fireplace. Above the fireplace was a banner with the longbottom crest and name. Around the room were bookcases. There were so many that there was a tall ladder on a brass track to get to the top shelves. Harry walked to the window and saw they were on the ground level which was confusing.

"This isn't the hogwarts grounds. And come to think about it, this is not the furniture." Harry said.

"No, it's my room back at Longbottom manor. Gran made it like this for my dad when he was a boy and I got his room growing up. It's a copy of the common room. This blank wall is where the doorway to my bedroom is supposed…" He stopped talking as a door appeared. He opened it and they saw a bedroom with a big four poster bed, dressers, and a big wardrobe.

"Your bedroom?" Harry asked.

"Yes. This is so weird." Neville said.

"It's your mind. I didn't know I wanted a log cabin in the woods until I saw it. Hermione didn't know she wanted a Victorian manor house library until she saw it. Is this the place you're most comfortable?" Harry asked dropping into a broken in leather chair.

"It is. I love this room. It's home." Neville said dropping into the chair next to him.

"Good. The next time you come here you can come straight here. Now we have to head back to the real world." Harry said.

"Okay." Neville said and in a blink of the eye there were looking at each other back in Neville's parents room.

"That was fun." Harry said.

"I'll say. I have a bear." Neville said with a grin.

"I know. You should show Susan your mind at some point." Harry said looking at Hermione and Susan who were both sitting there motionless.

"You two done?" Luna asked.

"We are little sister. You want to try?" Harry asked.

"Okay." Luna said walking over as Neville got up and walked over to the table.

"You ready for this?" Harry asked.

"I am. Are you ready for this?" Luna asked sitting across from him.

"Only one way to find out." Harry said. In the blink of an eye they were standing at the edge of the wood in his mind. Shadow ran up and studied Luna.

"This is my sister. She has full access to my mind." Harry said. Again Luna's night clothes shifted to match his jeans, boots, flannel, and leather jacket.

"It's hauntingly beautiful." Luna said looking around.

"I like it. My mind's over here." Harry said leading her to his mind.

Soon Luna was sitting in the seat by the fireplace with two black books. She opened the first book and dropped it as she grabbed her head and screamed in pain. Harry held her as the pain subsided. She paged through the book and moved on to the second book. Again she was hit by the pain, but not as much. By the time she paged through the second book a light wood round topped door materialized in the hallway full of doors. Harry helped her out of the chair and she opened the door. They stepped out of the door that was inset into the trunk of a big white tree with vibrant green leaves. There were standing in a forest clearing. The sun peeked through the trees and bathed the clearing in little shafts of pure white sunlight that gave the forest a warm and ethereal feel to it. There were big white trunked trees all around them. Shadow barked suddenly as an arrow came whizzing by Harry's face and stuck in the tree behind him. Harry dove for cover and reached for his gun which wasn't there.

"Hold Your Fire!" Luna yelled out putting up her hands.

"Mistress?" Asked a light female voice that drifted through the trees to their ears.

"Yes, and this is my brother and his dog. You will treat him like you treat me. Now show yourself!" Luna said.

A rope dropped from the tree in front of them about fifty feet away and a tall thin woman slid down the rope. She was pale white with long white hair pulled back into a braid. She was dressed in brown and green leather boots, pants, armor corset, and bracers. She had a long recovered bow in her hand. On her back was a quiver of arrows. She had two long daggers on her belt. A she walked towards them Harry saw she had silver eyes like Luna but she also had long pointed ears and that made her an elf. She stopped a few feet away from them and bowed low.

"Sorry mistress." She said in a musical voice.

"It's okay, you're warning shot was a bit close but it's okay." Harry said pulling the razor sharp spear tipped arrow out of the tree and handed it back to her.

"It's not much of a warning if it's not close." She said with a flirtatious smile.

"I guess not. Harry Steel at your service My Lady." Harry said holding out his hand.

"Isil." She said taking her hand. Harry bowed low and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.

"Harry, are you flirting with my mind guardian?" Luna asked with a smirk.

"Shamelessly." Harry said.

"Right. Well stop it or I'll tell Hermione. And you, take us to my mind." Luna said with a smirk.

"Right away mistress." Isil said turning around and leading them to a tree.

She ran her finger down the trunk and a door appeared in the trunk. She opened the door and waved them inside the huge tree trunk. They found avery tall circular room with a spiral staircase leading up. Isil closed the door and it vanished. She lead them up the stairs and out into a gazebo built into the tree branches. They saw a rope bridge to a bigger tree house. The elf ranger lead them over the bridge and into the tree house. The house was a huge circular building with an open air two floor layout.

The first floor had a sitting room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a stone fire pit in the center of the room. The second floor was a circular library full of bookshelves. The whole place looked like the two floors were held in place by the branches off the huge white tree. All of the furniture was made from the white wood and white soft silk fabric. As she looked around the tree house Luna's clothes turned into a thin white sundress and her boots became white leather sandals. Around her head a thin silver circlet formed. Harry looked at her and smiled. His sister looked like an elf queen.

"Harry, this is what heaven look like." Luna said softly as she walked to the balcony that surrounded the treehouse. She looked over the natural tree branch railing and saw the forest floor more than a hundred foot below them.

"This is your idea of comfort, safety, and serenity sister." Harry said hugging her to his side.

"Harry I don't want to leave. It's too nice here." She said with a serene smile.

"We have to go back little sister. We have to be there when Neville's mum wakes up. But you can come back here every night before you drift off to sleep. This will always be here. Isil will always be here. This will always be here when you need it." Harry said rubbing her back in a comforting way.

"He's right Mistress. This will always be here for you." Isil said.

"Okay. But I'll be back soon." Luna said hugging the tall thin elf.

"My Lady." Harry said with a bow right before they vanished. Harry blinked and they were sitting in the bedroom looking at each other. Luna sighed with a serene smile on her face.

"For the record, if I ever need a vacation I'm doing it in your mind." Harry said standing up and hugging Luna.

"That was the best." She said as they dragged their chairs back to the table. Harry set his chair in the spot next to Hermione that was left open for him.

"How was it?" Hermione asked.

"Her mind is an awe inspiring elven forest guarded by a beautiful elf ranger." Harry said.

"Really? I'd love to see it some time." Hermione said.

"It's pretty amazing. My mind is a open air treehouse weaved into the branches of the white elven trees." Luna said with a smile.

"Well my mind is a vacation spot too. It's a Caribbean island and my mind is in a shipwrecked pirate ship. And my guardian is a one eyed pirate named Jack. he's a fun guy, and the island is always a sunny 85 degrees with a light ocean breeze." Susan said.

"We'll visit each others heads at a later date. The thing that's good about having you all in control of your minds and having a copy of those two books in your heads is you each can teach a new member of the group all at once. That's five people. And the number goes up exponentially each time." Harry said.

"Can I teach my Aunty?" Susan asked.

"Sure, in fact it's a good idea. Hermione should show her mum and dad, Neville and I can teach the Tonks', and Luna can work with her dad. I want us all to have access to these skills. Look how fast we can devour information and understand it. It's a very valuable skill to have. I've also experienced really good refreshing sleep ever since I gained control over my mind. I think we have to set up a group tattoo trip for the rest of the group for tomorrow." Harry said.

"It's a great idea, now you in or what." Neville asked holding up the deck of cards.

"I'm in, we playing for real cash?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"We're playing with poker chips. Everyone starts out with $250. The game is five card draw." Neville said shuffling the cards like a Vegas dealer.

"You play a lot of cards growing up?" Dean asked.

"My gran was part of a group of older witches that got drunk and played cards three nights a week. I've been playing cards since I could read the numbers." Neville said dealing out five cards to everyone.

"Oh good." Dean said sarcastically which made them all laugh.

For the next hour and a half they played cards, joked around, and ate junk food. Right around eleven Harry stopped everyone by waving his hands. Everyone looked at him confused as they got quiet. Harry tipped his head sideways. Then they all heard it. A slight moan from the bed. In a flash both Harry and Neville were out of their seats and standing next to the bed. Alice was tossing back and forth as if she was having a bad dream.

"I think she's getting up." Harry said. Hermione shot out of her seat and ran into the other room to get Maria.

"YOu think I should try to wake her?" Neville asked.

"Why not?" Harry asked

"Mum?" Neville said shaking her shoulder. Her eyes shot open and she launched herself into a sitting position and latched onto Neville.

"NEVILLE!" She screamed in a voice cloudy with disuse. As her body was racked with sobs.

"I'm Here Mum." Neville said holding her. Miria took one look at Alice and pulled out here phone. A short five second conversation later and she hung up.

"Doc Carter is on his way." Maria said rushing to the bed and trying to cast spells at Alice.

"I'll go run down stairs and get him." Harry said jogging out of the room. He was standing in the lobby a half a minute later when Doc Carter came out of the portkey room Harry waved him over to the still open elevator as he waved to Mike the doorman. A half minute later they walked into the room and found Alice still holding a bewildered looking Neville.

"Alice, I'm Doctor Richard Carter. I've been your attending doctor for the last few days." Doc carter said walking over to the bed. By the time he got there Alice let up on her death grip a bit and Neville was able to stand up and move out of the way a bit so Doc Carter could get a look at his mum.

"Hello?" Alice said in a horse voice. Her face was a mess of tears and snot.

"Let's check you over." Doc carter said running a few scans on her.

"Guys, it might be a good idea to give them the room." Harry said to the group.

"Harry James Potter you better stay in this room." Alice said.

"Yes Ma'am." Harry said responding to his full name.

The group minus Harry, Neville Susan, and Hermione left the room. Doc carter spent a few minutes running tests and scans and writing things in his chart as the smaller group stood off to the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling? Any aches or pains?" Doc Carter asked looking up at Alice's brown eyes.

"My throat hurts and I feel a bit light headed. I also feel ravenously hungry." She said in a horse voice.

"The throat we can fix with a spell." Doc Carter said hitting her with a white spell. Alice cleared her throat and sighed.

"Much better." She said in a clear warm voice that made Neville half sob in Susan's arms.

"Good, as for the light headedness and the hunger. That goes along with the potion regiment I have you on. I plan to keep you on it for the next few weeks. You were very malnourished when you got here. You weighed 71 pounds. At the moment you're 116 pounds. Most of that is unworked dead muscle. I'm going to keep you in bed for a day until we can get you some real food in you. And you're going to eat. Trust me, it's normal. Eat as much as you can. Your bodily functions should start to come back to you the more you eat. I'm going to stop by tomorrow morning and check up on you and Frank. At that time, if I think you're up to it, I'll let you walk around with a walker. Do you have your wand?" Doc Carter asked looking to Neville.

"I do, but it's tracked by the UK Government. We need to get her a new untraceable wand. If you let me take her to the wand shop tomorrow we can get her fitted for a wand. We can get a wheelchair if you think we need one." Neville said.

"I might have you do that. I'll bring a chair with me in the morning. The faster we can get you using your magic the faster your core will grow and your magic will start healing your body faster. Think of it like a cycle. You use your magic, your magic gets stronger, which in turn uses the food you put into your body as fuel as building blocks to rebuild your body so you can use more magic. For next three to five days I want you to sit on your but, eat like animal, and cast simple spells until you think you're going to pass out. Once you get a wand I don't want you to get out of your seat to get anything. You want something, summon it. You want a glass of water conjure a glass and fill it with a spell. Guys, as bad as it sounds, don't cater to her too much. Let her do it with magic." Doc Carter said looking at everyone in the room with a smile.

"Understood doc. We'll take her to the wand shop in the morning and bring her right back here after. What do you think about getting a mental shield tattoo? Will that affect her magic?" Harry asked.

"No, in fact it might help protect her healing mind." Doc Carter said looking thoughtful.

"If we get her the tattoo I can work with her to control her mind using the mind arts. For the next few days you can sit in the library and ingest a steady flow of books." Harry said looking at his godmother.

"It's a good idea." Doc Carter said.

"I think it is. I want to get back on my feet as fast as I can. I've been locked in my body for fifteen years unable to raise my baby. Not anymore." Alice said losing her composure. Neville hugged his mum and they both cried.

Doc Carter backed away from the bed and wrote a few more things on his chart before talking to Maria. He came back to the bed a few minutes later when it looked like mother and son were both calm enough to talk.

"Alice, you said you've been locked in your body for fifteen years. How alert were you?" Carter asked.

"Very alert, for most of the time. I spent most of my days trying to get up, to hug my boy. To get better. But I soon figured out it took a lot out of me and on days when Neville would come to visit I would be unable to move at all. I figured out if I calmed myself, relaxed and didn't fight to move then when Neville would come for a visit I would be able to do more I could move around a bit. I could remember more of what he said. I could take it all in and save it. But after that I would be down for days. I spent all this time saving up my strength for the fifty or so visits I would get a year. The rest of the time I was locked in a darkness, or just barely awake." Alice explained as she held onto Neville for dear life.

"Mum, I'm so sorry." Neville said losing his composure again.

"Sorry for what baby?" She asked.

"I should have brought you and Dad here sooner." Neville said in a voice full of pain and Harry closed his eyes in guilt. He knew what Neville had to be going through and he wanted nothing more then to help his brother. Harry put his hand on Neville shoulder.

"Sweetie, you did what you could. You got us here as soon as you knew you could. You got us help quickly after that. But more importantly, you did something far more important for me and your father. You raised yourself. As much as loved Augusta I knew she was falling apart with every visit and I saw you pick up more and more responsibility as the years went on. You raised yourself. And you did a damn fine job of it. Look at you. I'm so proud of you." She said and Neville broke again. This time everyone in the room teared up too. Doc Carter grabbed his medical bag, handed Maria a few IV bags, and walked out of the room. Harry followed him out.

"Thank you again Doc." Harry said shaking his hand.

"Harry, it's not everyday you get to see a patient wake up from a coma. Today is a reminder of why I do my job. Earlier today I fixed your friend's father's eye and healed his brain damage. He can see again. Now I got to watch a 70 pound shell of a woman become a 120 pound person again. In a day or two I'll get to see how Frank turns out. I Love my job Harry. I get up every morning and I heal people. Today was very good day." Richard Carter said smiling from ear to ear as Harry lead him to the elevator.

"I will have the keys to an apartment in this building with three or more bedrooms when you walk in tomorrow. I will also have a contract ready for you to sign and your first check as well as your bonus waiting for you. You should bring your family if you can so they can get a look at the apartment. We have breakfast around eight every morning. You should join us if you can." Harry said in a voice heavy with gratitude. Doc Carter saw the look and nodded as they got off the elevator in the lobby.

"I'll see if I can get everyone here in the morning. First I have to get a cab. I should have brought my car with me." Richard said looking at his watch.

"Shit I should have gave you a second portkey. Follow me." Harry said leading him back on to the elevator. They got off at the garage and Harry walked him over to the back corner.

"Pick a car. Any car. The keys are in them." Harry said waving at the cars he had from his collection.

"You sure?" Doc Carter asked.

"Yeah. These are extra cars I found in the vault. You can borrow one for now, or keep it until I get you a company car. That should be happening in a week or two." Harry said as the doctor looked at the baby blue 1965 ford mustang convertible.

"I think I'll take this one home. I had one of these when I was younger." He said dropping into the driver's seat. He started up the old V8 and grinned.

"Have fun. See you tomorrow." Harry said waving him out of the garage. Richard drove away with a big smile. Harry took the elevator up to the lobby and got out.

"Hello Mr. Steel." Mike said.

"Hey Mike. I know I own the building, but would you happen to know who I have to call to get a few apartments. I know there are about a dozen vacant apartments in the building at the moment. How do I take them off the market?" Harry asked.

"You have to talk to Chuck Weller, he's the building manager. He lives down the hall in apartment 106. End of the hall." Mike said pointing to the staff door that lead to the west end of the building where half the staff apartments were located.

"Thanks Mike. Is he one of those early bird types?" Harry asked looking at his watch. It was half past eleven.

"Not really, he works from 10am-6pm six days a week in the office behind the front desk. Most night's he's up til one or two." Mike said.

"Thanks again Mike. Hopefully we'll be going out of town next week. There are two Dragons home games next week. I'll make sure you have the tickets and the portkey for at least one of those games to take your kid. Maybe round up a few other kids in the building like last time. I'll have Abby set it all up." Harry said walking towards the staff door.

"Thanks Mr. Steel!" Mike said.

"Someone has to sit in the booth and cheer on that damn team." Harry said laughing. He walked up to apartment 106 and true to Mike's words he heard the tv on. He knocked and a balding white man in his late fifties opened the door. He was dressed in Knicks sleeping pants and a white undershirt with a pizza stain up the front. He looked confused for a few seconds before recognition hit him and he stood up a little taller.

"What can I do for you Mr. Steel?" He asked grabbing a hoodie off the recliner and putting it on.

"Sorry about the late hour Mr. Weller, but I desperately need to take the empty apartments off the market. I also need to know how many we have and their sizes. Normally I would wait until the morning to do this, and I still can if you prefer to do it before eight am. But I figured you're up, I'm up, and neither of us wants to get up before we have to tomorrow morning." Harry said with a smirk.

"It's no trouble Sir. let me get some real pants on and I'll take you to my office to look at what we have." Chuck said turning off his tv.

"Thank you Chuck. I promised a few people apartments in the building and I would like to hand them out tomorrow morning." Harry said.

Harry waited a few minutes for Chuck to toss on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before he followed him to the office behind the front desk. Harry dropped into one of the seats in the old fashioned, but nice looking office as Chuck sat behind the desk. He pulled a big leather bound book out of a locked cabinet and set it on the desk along with a brass ring of gold keys.

"Okay, let's see what we have. It looks like we have 14 apartments available at the moment. We have 6 two bedroom units, 4 three bedroom units, 3 four bedroom units, and a five bedroom apartment on the 24th floor. You want all of them?" Chuck asked.

"Yes. I'm starting a company and one of the perks is an apartment here in the building. I will gladly write you a check for all 14 units. What is this going to cost me?" Harry asked.

"I'm honestly not sure. Normally someone signs a lease agreement and we take the first two month's rent and the last month's rent up front. We also take a security deposit. The thing is we put all that cash into a bank account and once we pay for the taxes, the utilities, the staff costs, and top off the ten million dollar emergency fund the rest of the money goes right to you. So I don't think you need to pay anything. I just think you'll end up with less money going to you at the end of each year." Chuck said scratching his head.

"How much is the rent for each different kind of apartment?" Harry asked.

"It's $27,500 a month for a two bedroom, $30,000 a month for a three bedroom, $35,000 for a four bedroom, and $50,000 for a five bedroom. Altogether you're looking at $430,000 a month. But then again we weren't getting that with them off the market and we were doing fine." Chuck said.

"Good God!" Harry said looking shocked.

"That's Manhattan rent prices for you. If I was to list your penthouse with the nine bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, and roof guardan I could put it on the market for $350,000 a month easy. I could probably get $500,000 a month. And someone would pay that." Chuck said.

"Right. How about this, I'll drop off a check tomorrow for five million dollars. You deposit that into the building fund and we'll call it even. That way you have more money in the fund and what ever you don't need will come back to me at the end of the year?" Harry said.

"Good call. You want me to make a list of apartment numbers and the corresponding number of bedrooms and bathrooms for each unit?" Chuck asked.

"Could you?" Harry asked.

"Sure give me a minute." Chuck said grabbing a note pad off his desk and a pen.

"Also, the next time someone vacates an apartment, hold onto it. As of right now we're not taking any new tenets that don't work for me. At least until I fill all of the perks I promised." Harry said.

"Understood. As long as my salary gets paid I don't care how many people live in the building." Chuck said.

Ten minutes later Harry walked into the apartment with a key ring full of keys and a list of apartments. He walked into the bedroom and found Neville sitting next to his mother and the girls sitting in chairs around the bed.

"There you are. You vanished on me." Alice said.

"Sorry about that, I needed to take care of a few things for tomorrow. How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"Better now that both of my boys are here. Come closer, I want to get a good look at you." Alice said and Harry walked over to the bed.

"I can't believe how much you look like James, but those eyes are pure Lily. I can see your mother's brains behind those eyes." Alice said.

"You were friends with my mum?" Harry asked.

"Me and Lily were thick as thieves. We were roommates in Gryffindor and we did everything together. Including fall for cocky gryffindor bad boys at about the same time. We got married a week after each other. We went on our honeymoons together. We got pregnant together, and we pretty much had you both on the same day. I took your mum to the hospital and my water broke. We delivered you both in the same hospital room and we held each other's hands the whole time. You came first Harry and Neville showed up soon after. We pledged to look after you both right then and there. It kills me to know I failed to raise either of you two. But at least you had Sirius. Where is the old dog?" Alice asked.

"Dead. He fell through the veil of death a about five weeks ago fighting His cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. And he didn't raise me, he was sent to azkaban for 12 years without a trial." Harry said.

"My god. How the hell did that happen? How did he get jail time without a trial? How is that hag Lestrange still alive? Who raised you?" Alice asked.

"Dumbledore is darker then the dark lord. He's been manipulating the UK for decades. He wanted to keep me beaten and weak so he jailed Sirius, and he put me with my aunt Petunia and her husband Vernon." Harry said.

"Oh No." Alice said looking sick to her stomach.

"It gets way worse, for both of us and a lot of other people, but that's over now. We're all living here in America. We have everything we can ever want, and I'm putting plans in motion to take care of our problems back in the UK." Harry said waving her off.

"Things aren't all good, there've been some bumps along the way. Gran didn't make it." Neville said.

"Oh." Alice said looking sad as she hugged Neville to her side. At this point the boy was half on the bed and half on the chair.

"We have her body in stassus on the roof garden. When Frank gets up and he can move around we'll set up a funeral." Harry said.

"You two boys have taken care of everything." Alice said smiling sadly at them.

"We had to grow up fast, but we're making up for it by goofing off as much as we can. You said before that you were hungry. Do have any requests? I'm sure we have it on hand and if not I'm sure we can get it." Harry asked trying to change the subject. Alice saw it and she smiled.

"I've been thinking about breakfast for years. Big fluffy pancakes, runny sunny side up eggs, crispy bacon, sausage links, toast, coffee, tea, orange juice." Alice said in a dreamy voice.

"Coming right up." Harry said walking out of the room.

"He's is so much like his parents it's shocking. He has James's leadership and his mother's need to comfort and protect everyone. I bet he's the leader of your friends group?" Alice said.

"He has been since first year." Hermione said with a soft smile.

"For the whole school. I'm a Puff and we all know Harry would have our back in a fight." Susan said with a matching smile.

"I would follow Harry into hell if he asked and I know he'd be the first one through the fiery gates and the last one out. I'm proud to call him my brother." Neville said.

"I'm happy you two boys are together. I'm happy to see this whole group." Alice said as Andy knocked on the bedroom door.

"You up for visitors?" Andy asked.

"I see they let snakes in the house." Alice said with a big grin.

"Spoken like a true lion." Andy said walking up to the bed and hugging Alice.

"You look good. How is Ted?" Alice asked.

"Asleep, we get up early around here." Andy said.

"Where is here by the way. I've been out of it for the last few days." Alice asked.

"We're staying in the Potter building in New York city. This is the penthouse apartment." Neville said.

"Ah. I haven't been here before. James never came back here after his parents were killed in our sixth year. I did see the Miami house. It's huge. It's the Potter summer home." Alice said.

"We're going there next week as soon as dad gets up and he can move around." Neville said.

"I can't wait. It's has a private beach, a big pool, and a hot tub." Alice said as Harry walked in with a huge serving platter full of food. He was floating cups behind him. He set the tray on the card table along with the big cup of coffee, the tea set, and a big glass of orange juice. He turned one of the chairs into a tray table and set in across Alice's lap before floating the tray and drinks over.

"As requested, three pancakes, three over easy eggs, three sausages, ten strips of bacon, three different kinds of toast, butter, three different kinds of jam, coffee, tea, and orange juice." Harry said pulling cutlery out of his pocket and conjuring a cloth dinner napkin with a flick of his wrist.

"My God Harry. How did you make all that so fast?" Alice asked.

"Magic. There is a kitchen downstairs that is staffed by elves." Harry said taking a strip of bacon off the tray. "My cut." Harry said chomping on the crispy bacon.

"This looks great." Alice said spering a sausage and taking a bite. "Umm." she hummed savoring her first meal in fifteen years.

"I'm glad you like it. Neville can vanish the dirty dishes. I made them. Aside from that have fun and if you need anything don't hesitate to ask. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm headed off to bed. I've been going all out since six this morning and time zone hopping with portkeys drains the life out of you." Harry said.

"Get some sleep. You should all get some sleep. You all look tired. I have my baby boy to keep me company. We have lots to talk about." Alice said.

"Yeah. That's a good idea. See you in the morning love." Andy said hugging Alice and kissing her on the cheeks. She hugged the kids and lead the procession of people out of the room. Harry was the last one to walk out. Alice hugged him and kissed his forehead.

"I'm happy you grew up a good boy even if I wasn't there to see it." she said to him before letting him go.

"Night Mum." Harry said tiredly as he walked out of the room.

Harry locked up the house, turned off all the lights, and headed to his room. He found Hermione stripping off her sweat pants. He wolf whistled and she smirked at him.

"Even half asleep you're still ready to go." She said.

"For you, I'm always ready. But you know your just as excited for this fire." Harry said jerking his hips erratically as he tossed off his t-shirt.

"Yes, oh please you sexy man stirp for me." She said in a flat sarcastic voice as she slipped into bed.

"You can joke all you want but you know I'm a sexy beast." Harry said tossing his vest, gun rig and track pants on the chair by his bed as he danced around in a very unsexy way.

"Okay. I'll admit that you're hot. But only if you stop trying to be sexy. I find you less attractive by the second." she said laughing.

"Fine. As long as you admit I'm your dream lover." Harry said sippint into bed.

"Oh dream lover, please ravage me with your sex body." She said trying not to laugh.

"Close enough." Harry said attacking her lips and making her moan.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: After 14 chapters, I'm starting to see how hard it is to write a story this big and keep it flowing smoothly. I feel like every time I tackle a small scene it grows bigger and bigger until it's half a chapter long because every plot hole i try to fill makes two more. i feel like i should have started with a smaller story. something with less characters. At this point i have two other word documents open behind the one i'm working on to try to keep all the characters straight. All that tells me is that i tried to keep too many periphery characters alive. i can see why TheBlackHand wrote his story after the war. it's easier to tell a story post war with adult characters and the war plugs a lot of plot holes. (i.e. "What happened to blank?" "he didn't make it." sad face, move on)

i Also applaud all the thousands of authors that write good stories of young Harry in school fighting the war he's not prepared for with school yard spells and his schoolmates. it's really fucking hard to do. Mostly because the HP book series is full of plot holes that don't hold up to deeper thought, and when you do think about it the old man is either nuttier than squirrel shit or a very dark lord. and if that's the case how do you fight that and make it believable? Also as much as i want to spend ten chapters on building up SSI and how hard it is to pick a company car that all feels kind of like a waste of time if the world is on fire.

To fix this story i'm going to end it here and start over. i'm going to go through with a machete and start lopping off big parts of chapters. I'm going to start chopping off unneeded scenes and try to condense some stuff. i also need to focus on the war and not the world building too much. people have to die/not show up in the story. every new character i add to the world makes it too big so someone has to go. if i add the Grangers and the Tonks' then i can't deal with Weasleys and Bones. also i have to keep the story smaller in the beginning. the first story should be 20-25 chapters and only be about Harry and a small group of friends and muggle soldiers fighting the war with the help of the bank and some outside friends. they have to stay in the Muggle UK or Paris for the most part. it has to be a small war story over a year or two with a lot of death to make the world smaller. all these parents and adults have to go with the exception of a few. just like TheBlackHand did in IHS and a thief's tale. The next story can be about a post war Harry starting SSI and becoming the cool globetrotting spy with his friends like Harry Steel.

I'm also going to start time jumping more. cut all the extemporaneous dialog and just get on with it. a few chapters of set up that spand a week or two, a montage to cover training that spans a few months, and then each chapter after that covers a day of the war. it could be two days in a row or six, or it could be weeks in between days. again i can see why a Thief's Tale is told in a flashback in 12,000 words. You don't need every scene to include 5,00 words of dialogue. the story should flow in and out of time jumps to get to the end in a fun and entertaining way.

but as of right now this is the end of this story. I'm sorry but it's too much extra crap (i made a Quidditch league for God's sake. what the hell was i thinking.) i'm going to take a few weeks and see if i can start over. i'll knock out the first few chapters (they should mostly be the same. or maybe after i start rewriting there might be huge changes) then i'll start posting them under the title Harry Steel: The beginning. Depending on how things are going and the number of readers I still have at that point. i'll set a schedule i can keep up with and start posting chapters. I hope you guys come along for the ride. if you don't i understand. sorry for the false start. but this story is a hydra at this point and every head i cut off, two more pop up. at a certain point you have to stop cutting off heads. see you in a few weeks.


	16. Chapter 16

The new story is up. It's called Harry Steel: the Beginning.


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